One contest run always sticks out in mind, and that is Bob Burnquist's final run from 2001 X Games VII.
Oddly enough, this wasn't the highest scoring run in X Games Skateboard Vert. As it turns out, Bucky Lasek's run from X Games VI was higher at a score of 98.50. There is just one problem though.... I don't remember this run. One more further problem... I can't find it anywhere on youtube.
And if the run is not readily as available as Bob's run from 2001, I'm led to believe it wasn't as impressive if it wasn't remembered as well.
Maybe one day, I'll be lucky to find a VHS copy of Bucky's run on Ebay.
Bob's run from 2001 was memorable for how much the judges and crowds collectively lose their sanity.
While Tony Hawk and Sal Masekela comment on the run, just trying to name out the tricks as Bob does them, the crowd starts cheering and chanting Bob's name after the switch backside ollie.
Before even talking about the run, the stakes were as as as possible. Bob had the last run and needed a 95.50 to take gold from Bucky.
Back in 2000, the time limit for each run was 60 seconds on the 12 or 13 foot vert ramp.
During that 60 seconds, Bob Burnquist put down 22 tricks.
He started off on the first wall with a frontside air about 5 feet out and hits the next wall with a backside kickflip indy about 4 feet out.
He follows that up with a McTwist 4 to 5 feet on the next wall and heads to the fourth wall with a kickflip indy to fakie about 2 to 3 feet above the extension.
This was unexpected by the judges as they screamed out that he was going in switch. Bob hits the 5th wall doing a switch frontside air over 4 feet out.
On the sixth wall, he lost some momentum as he did a backside switch flip indy about 3 feet out. Yes, he landed still in switch and heads to the seventh wall.
On the seventh wall, this is where everyone looses it. Bob goes for a switch flip indy to forward but he doesn't get the full switch flip. Bob only managed to flip the board around half way and grabs the board while it is upside down.
This is the point that I remembered as a teenager and everyone else remembered. I thought it was over and he was going to either bail or slam.
But somehow, Bob flips the board the rest of the way around with his hand and Bob just falls on top of the board and lands on it. He lands on it for dear life and you can tell as he is rolling towards the eighth wall that he is trying just not to fall off.
Bob landed in the nollie position and had to shift his feet back to normal while rolling on the flat bottom.
The following words were yelled by the judges.
"Oh my God. No No No. He did not just do that."
This is the moment that just about won the run for Bob.
On the eight wall, he does a backside boardslide to fakie because he lost a ton of speed from a sloppy landing and needed to build momentum to continue the run. And this is where the crowd starts going crazy.
On the ninth wall, Bob spins a really fast fakie to fakie indy 540 only getting about a foot out of the halfpipe.
On wall ten, he does a backside slob gay twist only getting about a foot out of the halfpipe.
On wall 11, he picks up more speed and does an indy to fakie about 4 or 5 feet out and does a switch frontside ollie on wall 12 and switch backside ollie on wall 13 both one or two feet out.
Starting with wall 14, he starts doing really technical tricks on the coping. On wall 14, he does a switch rock and roll on the extension and does a switch nosegrind revert on wall 15.
These are tricks that were rarely ever seen during that year's X Games.
The revert on wall 15 set Bob up for the next wall going forward. On wall 16, Bob did a blunt to fakie to send him back in fakie for wall 17.
On wall 17, he does a half cab frontside blunt.
On Wall 18, he does another backside boardslide to fakie and on wall 19, he did a frontside slob gay twist about 2 to 3 feet out.
Wall 20 is where he gambled big. He already did two blunt stall tricks and we see him going for another. But as he is popping out, he kickflips out to fakie. He did a blunt kickflip to fakie on a 12 or 13 foot half pipe.
That trick blew everyone's mind. This is a trick that people would only do on 4 or 5 foot mini ramps. To do this on a big vert ramp was unbelievable at the time.
The judges lost it after the kickflip blunt fakie and it took them some time to process it. They started screaming as Bob was rolling towards wall 21.
But before anyone could regain composure, Bob wasn't done yet. On wall 21, he did a switch rock and roll on the extension.
On his wall, he finishes his run with a switch backside lipslide revert out. A ridiculously difficult trick overshadowed by the switch flip indy to forward and blunt kickflip to fakie earlier.
During his run, Bob did:
22 tricks
13 air tricks
- Frontside Air
- Backside Kickflip Indy
- McTwist
- Kickflip Indy to Fakie (on extension)
- Switch Frontside Air
- Switch Kickflip Indy
- Switch Kickflip Indy to Forward
- Fakie to Fakie Frontside Indy 540
- Backside Slob Gay Twist
- Indy to Fakie
- Switch Frontside Ollie
- Switch Backside Ollie
- Frontside Slob Gay Twist
9 tricks on the coping
- Backside Boardslide to Fakie
- Switch Backside Rock and Roll (on extension)
- Switch Backside Nosegrind Revert
- Blunt to Fakie
- Backside Half Cab to Frontside Blunt
- Backside Boardslide to Fakie
- Blunt Kickflip to Fakie
- Switch Backside Rock and Roll
- Switch Backside Lipslide Revert
9 Switch tricks
13 Tricks Landed either Fakie or Switch
2 360 spins in the air
2 540 spins in the air
9 tricks in the air with good height
4 flip tricks in the air
1 flip trick off the coping
So, what made this run so amazing?
This run showed off technical skateboard vert skating at its finest. Bob didn't choose to go super high as I think his highest trick was the first frontside air in the run and he didn't go for multiple spins as he only did 4 tricks with a 360 rotation or greater.
Bob pulled out tricks that were difficult and rarely seen at the time including the switch back lip revert, half cab blunt, and blunt kickflip fakie.
More importantly, Bob saved this run from the edge of disaster. Being able to recover that switch flip indy to forward was like seeing a sports car almost getting hit by a speeding locomotive only to miss it by inches. It was a jaw dropping moment. I even think that seeing that recovery was more impressive than if he had executed the switch flip indy to forward flawlessly.
And then the second climax happened when he pulled out the blunt kickflip to fakie. He landed the trick and then a fraction of a second passes for the judges to process what happened and then freak out.
While this isn't the highest run in X Games history, it is the run that everyone remembers. It could be a long time before we see a better run.
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