The X Games 15 BMX Freestyle Park Finals came down to a battle for first, between last year’s silver medalist Diogo Canina and four-time BMX park medalist Scotty Cranmer.
 
 Diogo Canina came out of the first round hot, pulling no handed flips and 360 flips in huge, near flawless runs that put him over 10 points ahead on the scoreboard in his heat. Scotty Cranmer and last year’s gold medal winner, Daniel Dhers, spent the second heat essentially tied in the standings, until Cranmer’s final run bumped him up into first position going into the finals.
 
 Cranmer, 2006 gold medalist who earned silver in 2007 and 2005, and Canina spent the finals trading places on the scoreboard. Canina charged the course and looked to be the winner, but Cranmer pulled a double tailwhip backflip up the step up on his final run, with only seconds left in the competition, putting him one point ahead of Canina, into the gold medal position.
 
 “Scotty’s a machine,” said Canina of his competition. “Of course I wanted gold—growing up you always dream of winning it all—but this is still an amazing feeling.”
 
 “We’ve all been riding with each other for a long time,” added Cranmer. “I don’t think we’ve ever been in a final that was that close. It was crazy!”
 
 Gary Young, who qualified first in yesterday’s BMX Freestyle Park Elimination competition tied with Dhers for fifth place in the second heat. With only the top five riders from the first two heats advancing to the final round, the tiebreaking factor came down to which rider had earned the highest overall score in a single run. Young had it, leaving Dhers empty handed while Young advanced to the finals, and then went on to edge out Corey Bohan and Ryan Guettler for the Bronze.
 

BMX Freestyle Park Final Results
 
 Final Standings from the BMX Freestyle Park competition held at the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles, Calif. on August 1, 2009.
 
                
        Name/Rank            Hometown               
 1.    Scotty Cranmer       Jackson, N.J.
 2.    Diogo Canina          Amparo, Brazil
 3.    Gary Young             San Diego, Calif.
 4.    Ryan Guettler          Beenleigh, Australia
 5.    Corey Bohan           Brisbane, Australia
 6.    Daniel Dhers           Caracas, Venezuela
 7.    Rob Darden             Greenville, N.C.
 8.    Jeremiah Smith        Cincinnati, Ohio
 9.    Dennis Enarson        San Diego, Calif.
 10.  Chase Hawk             Austin, Texas



Photos Laura Austin