BMX Street Finals
By the extremeathletes.com staff

After the BMX street Prelims on Saturday, the event was led by defending 1999 Silver Medallist Ryan Nyquist. He was closely followed by Colin Mackay, Colin Winkleman, Mike Laird and Dave Osato in the fifth position. Last years Gravity Games Gold Medallist, Dave Mirra sat in 14th place (unqualified for the finals) and last years Bronze Medallist, Jay Miron was currently in seventh after the Prelims. With last years podium winners far off the pace, the Gold was all for Nyquist' as he performed unthinkable tricks in practice until a crash with less than five minutes to go sent him away needing stitches on his chin. A miscalculated jump sent Ryan's face to the wood, breaking open his chin, blooding his nose and blackening and eye. Ten minutes later, Ryan returned to the event with stitches on his chin and a more determined expression on his face.

After the first round of the finals competition, Dave Osato picked up his game and led Nyquist in the standings. Both athletes new it would come down to their final run and the judges' point tally to determine the new Gold Medallist. Osato used technical tricks to score big points while Nyquist performed amazing tricks like back flips and tail whips over the ¼ pipes to favor points.

As round two was completing, Colin Mackay stepped up his program trying to stay in the top three after qualifying. Colin attempted a tail-whip to bar-spin (first time in competition) over the box, but cam up short and hit the ground. Many athletes have crashed here, trying to capitalize on a few athletes' misfortunes. Dave Osato is one of those. Osato was up and went big to begin his run. He saw his competitors falter and new the gold was his if he pushed himself. He started his run with a huge manual to tail-whip and never looked back. Osato completed a near perfect run and impressed the judges enough with his strength and agility maneuvers. The 23-year-old was technical and earned enough points to take the lead.

Only two competitors had a mathematical chance at taking the lead after Osato's second run. They were Laird and Nyquist. Laird went out and executed a near flawless run. He was the only other competitor to complete both runs without a crash. It wasn't enough execution though, as his tricks weren't as technical as Osato's and Laird only picked up points to move him into second place. As Nyquist took to the course, it was all his to win or lose. He attacked the course from one end to the other, performing back flips (back-to-back), tail whips and supermans over the obstacles. As he neared the end of his run, a miscued whip sent him to the wooded floor, abolishing his chance at gold. Nyquist got up defeated, yet like the gentleman he is, rode over to congratulate the new Gold Medal winner, Dave Osato and accept another Silver in BMX Street.

BMX Street Final Results: