January 30, 2011

 

Grabbing on to Gold

Bodin Executes a Double Grab Backflip to Take Gold

Winter X Games 15 is an event Daniel Bodin is sure not to forget.  On Thursday night he captured his first gold medal in Snowmobile Freestyle and on Sunday night he executed a double grab backflip to nab top honors in Snowmobile Best Trick.

“That is the biggest one I have ever done,” said Bodin of the double grab backflip that scored 96.00.  “I have done it before, but I have never landed it on snow.  I just had to do it”

The double grab backflip saw Bodin race off the ramp and into a backflip.  As he rotates in the air, Bodin let go of the handle bars and grabbed on to the back of his seat. As the 500-pound snowmobile rotated out of the flip, Bodin let go of the seat and grabbed back on to the handle bars as the machine landed smoothly on the ground.

Texas native Caleb Moore grabbed the silver as he brought several new tricks to the competition, including “the carrola,” that scored him 90.33

“That is the very first time I have ever done it,” said Moore of his trick.  “I am a little disappointed on the scoring, but Bodin had me beat on the double grab backflip.”

But the trick that generated the most talk was one he pulled off with his younger brother Colton. As Colton approached the jump on his second run, big brother Caleb picked him up and the duo executed a dual backflip.  Unfortunately rules dictate that the event is an individual contest and the run didn’t count.

Last year’s gold medalist Heath Frisby took home the bronze medal with an 86.00 on his tsunami backflip.  Even though it was one of the highest scoring tricks in the contest, Frisby said it wasn’t the trick he was hoping for.

“It’s not what I wanted to do, I had a brain freeze but I will definitely be back next year bringing it,” said Frisby.  “It feels real good to medal as it has been a long weekend for all of us freestylers.  We are all really beat.”

Snowmobile Best Trick features the top Snowmobile athletes in the world attempting to showcase some of the sport’s most innovative tricks.  Riders are judged on the overall difficulty and execution of their trick.

For Winter X Games media information, including press releases, logos and additional images from past events, log on to www.espneventmedia.com. To view medalist runs, visit the Winter X Games You Tube Channel – https://www.youtube.com/xgames and follow the X Games on Twitter at Twitter.com/xgames

 

WINTER X GAMES 15

Winter X Games will celebrate its 15^th anniversary in Aspen/Snowmass, Colo. January 27-30, 2011, with live coverage on ESPN and ESPN2. This will mark the 10^th consecutive year Winter X Games will be held in Aspen and will feature new events, more than 200 athletes and primetime coverage on ESPN on Sun., Jan.30. In addition to 24 hours of live programming on ESPN, Winter X Games 15 will be offered for the first time on ESPN 3D, as well as on ESPN International, XGames.com, ESPN360.com, SportsCenter and ESPN2’s X Center.

-30-

Contacts:    Alex Rozis (Broadcast media), 415-609-0749, [email protected]

Danny Chi, (Print Media), 310-491-6131, [email protected]

Crystal Yang (Radio Media), 310-491-6735, [email protected]

Grace Coryell, 310-956-5098, [email protected]