The Yasutoko Brothers: X GAMES THROWBACK | World of X Games

Sal, the electricity is thick here at the Staples Center as we get ready to start the Aggressive Inline Bird Finals. Anthony Avella did some of the most creative things with this ramp, especially the clamshell in the prelims. He really knows how to use the entire ramp and he's got some great creativity out here. Well, an exciting new skater on the door, one of the younger faces that we've seen. Look at how he incorporates a ramp going backside royale all the way over the clamshell. One of the few riders we've seen really attacking that clamshell. Look at this run from Anthony, now keeping the momentum and the excitement high, riding into the bold extension. So we're going to talk about how important it is to incorporate all these unique features on this ramp and already Anthony Avella attacking it with enthusiasm. This is how you like to see a ramp like this, skated, Anthony Avella. Now he's lacking some of the amplitude you'll see out of Ty and Chris, Ato and Takeshi, but definitely the line will help. Well, hopefully they're paying attention to how he's using the ramp because, yeah, they've got the amplitude and everything else. But there's a lot of room for creative lines on this ramp and Anthony Avella coming through with a great, great line. Looking pleased. Very consistent way to stay on his feet the whole time. So this is the most impressive feature on the ramp and look at how Anthony uses it. Going over vert all the way over that hump on the clamshell. And that's not all right into the extension. Those extension have minor bold corners and Anthony Avella not shying away from any of these unique elements here on this vert ramp. At 85, that bumps him in the first place. Martin has got so many tricks, but he's nervous. He said, Yeah, I've been learning one new trick after the next, but I never really focused on putting together a line. I've got to figure out how to get them all in this run. Well, it shouldn't be too difficult. Nell's always been very good at putting lines together. He's got a great repertoire of lip tricks and air tricks, so he knows how to link those tricks together. Well, he's got a lot of tricks that can get him around this ramp. And look at this, a big move from Nell Martin. That's one we've seen so far. Now, he said he also wanted to throw the 900, which he did not do in the prelim round. Well, a lot of the guys were holding back in the prelims, but now Nell's ready to run with the big dogs going 540. Remember, Ato's got two variations on that double backflip, so Nell's got to throw out some more big tricks if he really wants to be competitive for his top spots. But already off to a good start, like he was lacking a little bit of speed. Normally, he's got that method sort of Viking flat spin a lot cleaner, and he did not throw the 900, so he's left a little bit for the next round. All right. So if you want to run with the big boys, you got to have the big tricks. Nell Martin was flying high with the 540, and he was setting up for a big double backflip. We're going to see a few of those here today. You can be pretty sure of that. Nell Martin wants to be in the mix. The jitters are out and Nell Martin is on track. He's in first. On a huge ramp like this, you've got to go big to be successful and be distinctive, bring some signature moves that no one else will be throwing. And finally, incorporate the unique features of this ramp into your run. Sven Bokerst won the X Games Global Championships in Park. He took fourth in vert. He surprised everybody. He's a very understated rider, but he's got tons of big tricks, especially on the coping. Well, his skating is not so understated on the vert ramp. You'll see he's going pretty high here. He's going to throw some big spins. That is very high, actually. But it's just that you think of him first as a park skater, so you discount a lot of what he's actually capable of on a vert ramp. Abstract 720, setting up fakie 360. And of course, being a park skater, you expect him to bring some difficult drawing combinations, as we've just seen. Sven also said he wanted to do the fakie 9 into one of the most difficult lip tricks. That's a nice use of the hip. He went true spin, El Ignizu over the hip. There's the fakie 9, but he didn't have enough speed. He wanted to go right into the next wall. There it is. The fakie 270 Royale. So we've seen Sven using the coping a lot better than most of the ramp riders that we'll see out here. And also, he mixed it up with the big air. So a very balanced run for Sven Boker. It'll be important to use these unique elements here on the ramp, and no one's used it better than Sven Boker. So it's a true spin, El Ignizu over the hip, a difficult combo. And here he was set up with the fakie 900, which he wanted to set up into another trick, but didn't have the speed. So he had to come back and make it up a couple of walls later with a fakie 270 backside Royale. Well, he wobbles. He's rewarded for the difficulty on the lips. Sven Boker is up in second. Many heavy hitters still to run, but so far, Nel Martín with a very respectable 91.25 sits on top. And this is the most dominant team. An aggressive inline vert, the Asutoko brothers. Mark Engelhardt, the only skater to have ever beaten the Asutokos in 2002. He won the Gravity Games. He's got a mass load of big, big tricks, and he's feeling confident today. His family's out here to support him, and he's got the tricks to compete with the top skaters in the world. He's got the amplitude starting out with a big tweak back mute method. There's a Crawford 541, Mark's signature moves, and then the flat spin 900, a new trick for him. Talking to Mark in practice, he said he was a little nervous about that 900. It's the only trick he's kind of sketched on. And you can see right now that it's definitely playing head games with them. Well, kick up the pressure meter just about 10 notches because he's only got one more shot in round number two. That's right. Way into the medals in the finals. It's important to keep in mind that you only need one good run. The best run count. So he knows he'll be able to try and bring it up in the second round. But a tough break for Mark, because you like to get that good run out of your belt. There's a 1080 to finish it off. Mark Engelhardt can link tricks together as well as anyone. Start out with a huge Crawford 541. That's one of his signature moves, the way he reaches across to his leg. And then a new trick for him, a flat spin 900. I mean, you can link those big tricks together like that. You know you're doing well. And here is that forward 900, which he said has been giving a little bit of trouble. And you can see right there it caught up with him. The fall cost him. Mark Engelhardt is in fifth with some big hitters still to come. The last time Ty Chris was at the X Games. He was the gold medalist 2001. He threw the huge double backflip, which you will see here. New and improved. He's been out since then with injury, but he is back. Well, since look at the height. Oh, no, but slamming down on the coping, getting hung up just a bit. Since Ty won the X Games with that double backflip, vert skating has changed a lot. And that double backflip had a lot to do with it. It raised the bar and everyone went out and learn new and big tricks. H.O. course, the double backflip 180. Oh, wow. What a surprise. That is not a trick Ty falls on. Well, you can see how the competition has hurt him a little bit. You can tell he's a little bit rusty. You know, I came up to him right before the competition. Said, you're nervous. He said, this is the first time I've been nervous in over a year. So even Ty knows he's got to add a little something to add some distinction to these big tricks. All right. So this is a basic trick as far as Ty is concerned, getting completely inverted on the 540 and just misjudged the coping. Very uncharacteristic. But this is a view from above from the Taco Bell fly cam. Look at the double backflip on this, tweaking back the mute on the second rotation. We're going to take another look at it right here. Notice on the second double backflip how he tweaks back his legs. Takes so much more concentration and focus, makes it all the more difficult. Fifth place is not where Ty Chris belongs. He needs to move up in the second round. He knows it. So Ty Chris leaves himself a lot of room for improvement, but the Europeans showing their strength early. Nel Martin sits on top of the ninety one to five. Sven Barker's in second. But the heavy hitters, the Keshi Yasutoko and his brother Eito still to come. The Staples Center is going ballistic. We're down to our big guys, the Yasutoko brothers. But first, the big trick that's put Nel Martin on top. The double backflip brought us gold two years ago at X Games. He right now is the only one to break the 90 point mark. Eito Yasutoko has got some huge tricks, but first he's got to watch his brother Takeshi at 17 years old. He is your defending X Games gold medalist Takeshi Yasutoko, the younger half of the virtually unbeatable Yasutoko duo. Look at the high from Takeshi right off the bat. Oh, my goodness. This kid has been seen as a pro since he was nine years old. Takeshi Yasutoko is coming out with all guns firing huge airs in that combo all the way across the coping. He knows it's going to take everything he's got if he wants to compete against his brother, even though he's the defending X Games champion. Eito's won the last three pro tour events coming into this event. So Eito's got to be the one to beat. But Takeshi says, I'm still the defending X Games champion. You've got to take it away from me. This is just crazy what he's doing on the coping. He's incorporating all those elements he got to grind over the hip. And now look at this. Another lip trick variation. And that's exactly what Takeshi needs to do if he's going to be competitive. And then to finish it off. What a run for Takeshi Yasutoko. Perfect. What a smart run. He did everything that he knows he can do better than his brother and nailed it all. There's two things Takeshi can do to compete with his brother. He can go higher than anyone. And he knew he had to do it here. Look at this rocket. That's at least 11, 12 feet out of the vert ramp. This is so huge. And he's able to sustain that height. But another area where he's got an advantage over his brother. Look at this Viking flip at the peak of one of his highest airs. But he can also beat him on the grinds. Takeshi's got many, many more grind variations. And his brother incorporating that hip as he goes sole all the way over the hip. Alley-oop acid. Look at his dad. He is just all smiles. Yuki Yasutoko. Five, seven, five. It's going to be hard to beat that kind of score. Well, big brother's got so many big tricks, including one that nobody else has got. He's a two time X Games gold medalist looking for his third. A huge rocket. You know, coming into this event, everyone thought that Eito was pretty much a sure thing. 1080 caliphate we just saw from his younger brother. Well, he's, Takeshi looks like the one to beat. Yeah, he talked about changing his lineup. He wants to do the double backflip 180 into the double backflip. That's enough speed. He landed too low. Now here's the double backflip, but that's not just the subtle little bobble coming down from the double backflip 180. And it cost him his run. Well, I guarantee you what Takeshi did in his run is in Eito's head right now. Takeshi put the pressure squarely on Eito and you know he's thinking about it. This is very, very interesting. Now think about it. With a fall, he still did a double backflip 180, a 1080 California roll, a 720 flat spin and just missed the double backflip. I mean, that's that's absurd. Eito wanted to link the double backflip 180 into the double back. He wasn't able to do it. And look what happened on this double backflip. For some reason, was not able to hold on to it. Went down hard on his hip. Can't even see exactly what went wrong. It looks like he's landed. OK, he's able to roll away from it. I think that he was just not in the right kind of focus for this run. A testament to how unbelievably dominant he is, even with a fall. He threw so many big tricks. He sits in second behind his little brother. Let's take another look at this run. Yeah, Eito fell. But when he was good in this run, he was great. The 1080 California roll. And look at the amplitude. This is how he started the run. Easily 11, 12 feet trying to keep up with his younger brother and easily holding his own. And look at this high air right into a 1080 California roll. Eito's down with Paul right now. Eito, a little bit of difficulty. Pressure for this competition The family member he should be most nervous about sits on top. The brothers will battle it out in round number two. You don't want to miss it. Two, and he is back in the same form you saw last year. Everybody's playing catch up. Eito Yasutoko came out with the big tricks, but lacked consistency. So it's wide open going into round two. A vert icon, Cesar Mora has won X Games gold, but it was a long time ago, five years ago, to be exact. But he's got what it takes to bring home some kind of a medal here. Well, for the last couple of seasons, Cesar's been battling injuries and he's not been skating 100 percent. That is until now. He looks like the Cesar of old, flying high with a lot of amplitude. The first rollerblader to ever do it, and he does it early. So close to riding away from it. Looked like he was doing everything he could. OK, but he recovered quickly. Back up, not one of these runs where you have to go all the way around in 20 seconds, he lapsed. That's right. It's very interesting because he didn't fall right down the flat bottom. He was able to pump out of his fall, actually, since he since he virtually fell right at the top of the transition. 720 into a 540. Lots of spinning variations. Oh, coming up short. So things a little sketchy out here for Cesar. There's the disaster to revert and finishing off with a front flip. Not quite the way he would have liked it to go, but it could have been a lot worse. Indeed. Cesar Moore, not shying away from it in the middle of his run, early in his run, in fact, going for the 1080. He knew he needed to have it. And you can see here everything he's got spinning, he's got the rotation landing high. But when you're doing that much spinning so hard to keep everything together, roll in the right direction, he just got caught up as he rolled across the flat bottom, but fell so high in the transition that he was able to roll out of it. The eighty seven five. Oh, the sentimental favorite moves up in the fifth. So there's only one skater left who has the opportunity to bump now Martine out of the bronze medal spot. He was the 2001 X Games gold medalist was out last year. He is back. But his nerves of steel got the best of him. Yeah. Normally, give me trick the inverted 540. Very uncharacteristic. Needs to hear the crowd can thrive off of them. A true performer. He's done hundreds and hundreds of demos in his day and has been in over 100 competitions and taken top three in all but four of them. Nine, ten feet to start it out. Good amplitude on those first few walls. Switching up on those Luke King's. And there's a trick much better result this time as he gets inverted on the 540. Now come out Luke King 540 and you see him. He's hitting the coping a lot. Just means that he's not quite as in practice as he nor as he used to be, at least when he's competition ready. Just a subtle thing. It's not airing out at exactly the right place. That's got to spin. Yes. Having a great, great run. Inverted 540 in the extension. Working those extensions. Backside far from Nguyen showing off some lip tricks as well. Time wearing down. 720. Much better run for Toggin. Here comes a double back. Not a time or energy left to throw such a big trick where you need speed. Taking a look from the Taco Bell fly cam. See him getting upside down inverted. This was a trick that he fell on in his first run. No problem here. The inverted 540 and look at how he keeps that height. And here's a Luke King 540. And it's so nice when you can throw those big tricks as set up tricks, link them back to back, throwing a lot of big tricks. Well, things didn't go perfect for him, but they went much better. A 90.75 tie. Chris, just outside the medals. And that means his teammate, Nel Martin, the guy that he spent years skating with, will walk away with X Games bronze. For X Games gold on the front ramp is down to the two brothers. Once again, Takeshi Yasutoko sits on top. He worked the coping impeccably, but he also had the huge tricks like the Viking flip. My name is Takeshi Yasutoko. This trick is a Viking flip. Viking flip is not a spin, like a 1080, just a front spin. First is like, very fun for me. Second is this method, like this, very smooth. Yeah, I like, I like the feeling. Third is make it, land it. That's all, very easy. Viking flip, just do it. Takeshi Yasutoko put together a stellar first run, but he is not going to hold back. He said if he had a perfect first run, he was going to throw a new trick that he's gotten very close to landing the 1440. So expect it at the end of this run. Well, I don't know how he could improve on that first run. It was perfect. Look at the height, rocket about nine, ten feet. Again, sustaining that height over ten feet, the Viking flip, the height of that air, so huge, so impressive. Well, for the past two months, his brother Eito has been untouchable with the huge trick. So Takeshi came out and did what he does best. I think he's just setting up for it. He's not trying to do his whole line right now. And you can see it's in his head because already he has not done the lip tricks he did in the first round. That was so impressive. He just wants this trick now. Plus a 1440, which I don't think I've ever seen. This is all for glory. He's he's going to live by his first run score. And I don't blame him. I don't know how he can improve on that first run. But this would be history if he lands a 1440. Oh, it is so great to see Takeshi Yasutoko, who's not known for having the finishing trick, going for something new because we know very soon he's going to be landing that trick. Just like we saw in the execution, here it is in real life when it's all on the line. Look at that height. That's about 11 feet out as he gets upside down with the Viking flip. This is Takeshi's signature move. Tweaks it all the way back. He's got his back to the ramp. So impressive. And look at the height on this. Look at the amplitude. That is one of the highest airs you'll see all day. And it's a Viking flip, no less. And then here he goes trying to make some history. A 1440 never been landed. That is ridiculous how fast he has to wind up for that. But it's not going to happen here today. Landing on his knees. He was a little slow getting up, but he is all right. And what a day for Takeshi Yasutoko. Well, that second run was a throwaway, but a 9575 is the mark to beat. Eito Yasutoko has won the last three pro competitions. He's got all the big tricks. He can make it happen in the first round, though. He had trouble. These tricks are so difficult that he went down on the double backflip. He's got to land everything right now. Paul's got some insight on top of the ramp. Mark, I was just standing by with Eito. I stood there next to him. I said, look, if you stick your run, are you going to win? And he said, definitely. So he's confident if he sticks it, he expects the gold. And I think that it's going to come in the form of that line trying to come right out the backflip, double backflip 180 right into the double back. Oh, the staple center is on its feet. This is it. It comes down to the final run. Starting out that huge amplitude, big with the rocket, trying to sustain that height around ten feet, nine or ten feet. And here comes a ten eighty California rope. Nobody else can do that trick either. And he's so confident in it. He can throw it so early in his run. It leaves all the rest of his run to throw these other big tricks that he's got in his back. Here he comes, double backflip 180 back. He has to wait till two walls late. This is going to be very, very interesting for the judges. Provided Eito stays on his feet. Flat spin 720. He's throwing out all his big tricks. He can't waste any walls out here. But remember, he's not he's not thrown a single grind hardly. So it's going to come down to Eito's big tricks versus Takeshi's monumental lip tricks. I would hate to be a judge right now. This is very, very hard. Eito's got more big tricks than anyone, and he brought him ten eighty California rope, the double backflip, a near run for Eito Yasutoko. It's going to be very difficult for the judges. And now the only question that remains is which Yasutoko is going to take X Games gold. So the big tricks that have propelled this sport so far, Eito Yasutoko puts them all in his run and he's looking at X Games gold for the third time. Eito Yasutoko, you told me that if you stick that line, which you know you can stick, you are going to win. It's on the board right now. Ninety seven plus. How nervous were you going into that final round? Yeah, I was. I was so nervous. Yeah, I'm still nervous now. So yeah, I had to try double backflip wide and double backflip in my run. And I have to say thank you to my family. Thanks, Eito. Great to see you. And you know what? You've made history. You are the first inline male vert rider to win three gold medals at the X Games. It's a very special event for you. Congratulations.