Danny Harf and Dallas Friday both rode their way to a fourth X Games gold medal at the Long Beach Marine Stadium Saturday morning. X Games 10 Wakeboard Men’s gold medalist Phillip Soven narrowly edged out Josh Sanders for the silver medal. Sanders, in his fourth X Games, medaled for the first time taking the bronze. Emily Copeland Durham took home the silver medal in the women’s competition, with Tara Hamilton capturing the bronze.
Harf, a 20-year-old California native who now lives in Orlando, put together a clean winning sequence of tricks including a switch 540, a regular heelside 720, nuclear whirly bird, a moby dick to a nuclear crow mobe grab method 540 and a slob 180, and was punctuated by a switch 900 with a heelside grab off of a double-up.
“I feel great about winning this year, because last year I had such a rough time,” said Harf, referring to X Games 10 when he finished 9th, missing the finals completely. “It feels good to come back from such bad bounces last year. The X Games is a great showcase for the sport and it’s great to come out and show off a bit for the kids. Hopefully they’ll be the ones to take it to the next level.”
Friday, the 2005 ESPY winner for women’s action sports athlete, rode to a record third straight gold medal (her fourth overall) with a run beginning with a huge OH8 and including a scarecrow, a toeside front roll followed by and indy grab. Next up she pulled a KGB wrap, a heel side off axis 360, and closed the run with a bat wing followed by a switch-back-board.
“I feel like I had a great weekend and had a good run today,” Friday said. “Its great to be out competing with all the other athletes, and to be able to be good friends also. (Wakeboarding) is such a great sport and I feel lucky to be able to do what I love, compete and travel around the world.”
Final Results from Long Beach Marine Stadium on August 6, 2005
MEN
| 1st | Danny Harf | Orlando, Fla. | 67.90 |
| 2nd | Phillip Soven | Longwood, Fla. | 66.55 |
| 3rd | Josh Sanders | Nowra, NSW, Australia | 66.50 |
| 4th | Daniel Watkins | Gold Coast, Australia | 53.10 |
WOMEN
| 1st | Dallas Friday | Orlando, Fla. | 71.05 |
| 2nd | Emily Copeland Durham | Denver, Colo. | 55.45 |
| 3rd | Tara Hamilton | Lantana, Fla. | 53.30 |
| 4th | Maeghan Major | Springfield, Mo. | 45.00 |
Complete listings of all results and releases, plus photos from X Games 11 are on www.espneventmedia.com.
