Pete Thomas Outdoors

For Travis Pastrana, balancing X Games and NASCAR careers might be the hardest trick of all

Now that the "Pastranathon" is over, having lasted all of about 40 seconds as Travis Pastrana broke his ankle and foot Thursday on opening night of the X Games, what's next besides surgeries and physical therapy?

The action sports icon was scheduled to compete in four events in four days. This included making his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut at Indianapolis on Saturday, and competing in X Games events Friday and Sunday.

He suffered his injuries after back-to-back crashes during the Moto X Best-Trick competition.

In a statement after being released from the hospital Thursday night, he said: "I am sorry this happened and will be back in action as soon as I can. I look forward to Pastranathon 2012 at X Games 18."

But will there be another Pastranathon? Will Pastrana, who has won 16 X Games gold medals, continue to be a major X Games presence if he's going to take his budding NASCAR career seriously?

With his Nationwide Series debut postponed indefinitely, that's something he's going to have to think about.

Before Thursday's incident he told me, "As soon as the X Games are over and this trick is landed, I'm going to really focus on the NASCAR stuff. For the next three years I'm going to be really dedicated to NASCAR." He did not say whether this means reducing his X Games commitment.

The trick is the 720 TP Roll, which Pastrana has yet to land and which now has twice landed him in the hospital. Can he give it up? Probably not until he lands one. He'll most likely keep working in the foam pit trying to master the trick, which is sort of a flipping 720-degree spin.

It seems next-to impossible because the motorcycle must be brought upright from a sideways position just before landing. "The motorcycle weighs so much and you have to be perfect on every pull," said Pastrana, 27, who tried the trick Thursday on a smaller 125cc motorcycle.

He had been scheduled to compete in seven Nationwide races this season, driving the No.99 Toyota for Pastrana-Waltrip Racing. His earliest debut now will be Sept. 9 at Richmond International Raceway.

His team has to be disappointed but co-owner Michael Waltrip said Friday at Indianapolis: "We knew there was a risk, but when you say the name Travis Pastrana, what's the first thing you think? Risk. That's how he lives."

Pastrana has been working on a 3-D feature film based on the popular Nitro Circus television series. That's close to completion and due to be released later this year.

He's planning to marry pro skateboarder Lyn-z Adams-Hawkins in late October in Southern California.

Does that mean the high-energy daredevil athlete is ready to slow down, focus on a single career and raise a family? That remains to be seen.

Asked whether he and Adams-Hawkins were planning to have kids, he answered, "Not anytime soon."

-- Pete Thomas

-- Travis Pastrana photo is by Christian Ponder / ESPN

Jackson Strong makes X Games history with Moto X front-flip, while the Travis 'Pastranathon' comes to abrupt end

A night many thought would belong to Travis Pastrana, during the X Games' marquee Moto X Best-Trick competition on Thursday, instead belonged to event rookie Jackson Strong, who became the first freestyle motocross rider to land a front flip at a competition and easily won with a score of 95.66 (see first video).

 

As for Pastrana, it was all bad news. Running seventh out of eight riders in what might be the rawest, heaviest competition of the X Games, the action sports icon crash-landed while attempting what has been referred to as a 720 Toilet Paper Roll, which is sort of a flipping 720-degree spin and seemingly impossible to land.

Pastrana got up, climbed back on his 125-cc motorbike and tried the same trick again, out of turn, and landed sideways again, on his right leg, and had to be helped off the dirt.

Pastrana broke his right foot and leg and his much-hyped "Pastranathon," which was supposed to have him compete in four events in four days -- one of them his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut in Indianapolis on Saturday -- came to an abrupt end.

 

"I am sorry this happened and will be back in action as soon as I can," Pastrana told ESPN after his release from the hospital. "I look forward to Pastranathon 2012 at X Games 18."

But for Strong, 19, a Metal Mulisha team rider known as "Jacko," there was lots of reason to celebrate. His front-flip, which was completed during the first of two rounds, defeated two double back-flips, including one by superstar Cam Sinclair, who even added a variation for his trick.

[Related: "Pastranathon" might present too many obstacles.]

Double back-flips were once considered impossible, but a front flip seems to defy the laws of physics, as the rider must get the motorcycle spinning forward after launching from a steep dirt ramp that is designed to allow for backward rotations.

It was a huge night for Jacko but also his fellow Australians.  Sinclair finished second (94.66) and Josh Sheehan, who also stuck a double back-flip, finished third (93.33).

Travis Pastrana's long X Games weekend, the 'Pastranathon,' might present too many obstacles

ESPN has been hyping the so-called "Pastranathon," which centers around action sports superhero Travis Pastrana and his attempt to compete in three X Games competitions in Los Angeles and, between competitions, make his debut Saturday across the country on NASCAR's Nationwide Series.

But will the Pastranathon really materialize?

His itinerary has him competing in the X Games' Moto Best-Trick competition Thursday night; the Moto X Freestyle on Friday night; catching a redeye flight to Indianapolis for his NASCAR race; and flying back to L.A. late Saturday so he can compete in the X Games' RallyCross final on Sunday.

There are two major obstacles. The first is a trick he calls the 720 Toilet Paper Roll, which he hopes to finally land Thursday. It's sort of a back-flipping sideways rotation and does not seem possible in principle. It has been "four years of hell" in the making.

Pastrana tried it at the 2009 X Games and it unraveled in mid-flight. He landed hard on his backside and his injuries required surgery. He did not try the trick at last year's X Games.

"This year I've got it dialed as close as I think I'm ever going to get this trick," he told me in a phone interview Wednesday morning.

The second obstacle is a dislocated middle knuckle on his left hand. Travis said the "stupid injury" might prevent him from competing in Friday night's grueling Moto X Freestyle competition, which requires a lot of squeezing and releasing of hand breaks. He's scheduled to have surgery to repair the injury on Tuesday.

Pastrana added that he should be in good enough shape to grip the steering wheel of his race car if he survives the TP Roll. If he does that, he'll rename the trick the Circus Roll, in honor of his Nitro Circus tour mates, and put the trick to rest.

When asked if it were good that the difficult best-trick event was first, so he can get it out of the way, he joked: "Or it would have been good for them to put it last because, in case I get hurt, I can still do the rest of the week."

-- Pete Thomas

Photo courtesy of Christia Pondella / Red Bull

Slopestyle snowboarding, skiing to debut at 2014 Olympics

For the world's top snowboarders, the announcement Monday that slopestyle competitions will be added to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, represented a welcome but long-overdue measure of acceptance.

For freeskiers, who three months ago learned that halfpipe skiing would debut at the same Olympics, the inclusion of slopestyle served to further underscore how popular their non-traditional, non-racing disciplines have become during the past few years.

Together, these edgier new-school athletes seem to be taking over the Winter Games.

"I'm thrilled that the IOC is embracing freeskiing in such a big way," said Simon Dumont, a dominant U.S. halfpipe specialist. "It's been incredible to watch the sport evolve so rapidly; it really shows how far we've come in such a short time."

The International Olympic Committee agreed during meetings in South Africa to approve men's and women's slopestyle as medal sports for snowboarding and skiing. Also added were men's and women's snowboard parallel special slalom.

The addition of slopestyle -- which entails negotiating a downhill course with jumps, rails and other terrain park features -- is a clear indication that the IOC is striving to ensure that the Olympics remain relevant among younger generations.

Said Bill Marolt, CEO of the United States Ski and Snowboard Assn.: "The IOC's decision to add slopestyle to the Olympics recognizes the millions of youth who are already participating in the sport in terrain parks around the world. It will have a very positive impact on the sport, including our U.S. Snowboarding and U.S. Freeskiing programs."

It also will make the Winter Olympics look more like the Winter X Games. The IOC reluctantly added snowboarding events -- halfpipe and giant slalom -- in 1998. The Winter Games now include skiing and snowboarding halfpipe; skiing and snowboarding slopestyle, skier-cross and boarder-cross. All six are longtime X Games mainstays.

Simon Dumont scores big with 'cubed' halfpipe performance

Halfpipe freeskiing will debut at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. That shows how popular the sport, for years a Winter X Games staple, has become.

But is halfpipe freeskiing -- and perhaps snowboarding -- already ripe for a drastic change as top-level athletes seek new ways by which to challenge themselves and showcase their incredible skills?

Maybe not, but Simon Dumont appears to be onto something with his "cubed" halfpipe, which he showcased recently with a performance at Squaw Valley USA. Gone is the security of a 22-foot wall for the duration of a routine. Gone, also, are points of reference for a rider who must pass 40 feet above ice while performing acrobatics between sections. Athletes might be scared of it, understandably, but they can adjust, and fans will love it. Judge for yourself:

 

Jed Mildon makes BMX history with first-ever triple back flip

Jed Mildon on Saturday became the first BMX rider in history to land a triple back flip, a mind-boggling stunt that a person must witness to fully appreciate what the 24-year-old accomplished.

Thankfully, fixed video cameras enable viewers to experience at least part of what it was like for the daredevil athlete to spin three rotations in a remarkably smooth ramp-to-ramp performance at his hometown Taupo, New Zealand (see video below).

Among live witnesses was a Guinness World Records representative. After his performance, Mildon said, "This is the perfect result to three intensive months of practicing and training for this moment." Enjoy:

 

Pierre-Luc Gagnon training in MMA to stay in skating shape

How do the world's top vert skateboarders stay in shape for the grueling jam sessions they must endure at major competitions?

For perennial X Games star Pierre-Luc Gagnon, mixed martial arts training is playing an increasingly important role in conditioning.

The video shows PLG explaining his craft, and how MMA helps him perform at a top level, at the Tiger Muay Thai facility in Phuket, Thailand. The interview was after he edged Bob Burnquist to claim a gold medal on the mini-megaramp at X Games Asia. It's a bit long, but PLG fans won't mind:

 

Expansion of X Games a reflection of mainstream acceptance

The announcement Tuesday by ESPN that the X Games will expand from two major events in the United States to six global events staged annually underscores how deeply action sports have penetrated mainstream youth culture.

As part of the "Global X" initiative, expansion will occur in 2013, with Los Angeles and Aspen, Colo., remaining as venues for summer and winter competitions, respectively. Tignes, France, will be a second Winter X Games location, and the remaining venues will be determined through a competitive bidding process that began Tuesday. (Host cities will be announced sometime next year.)

Scott Guglielmino, ESPN's senior vice president in charge of programming, called this the biggest announcement regarding the X Games since ESPN announced the event's debut in 1995. He added that each of the six events will showcase local culture and "have its own kind of flare."

Travis Pastrana, an 11-time X Games gold medalist and arguably the world's most popular action sports athlete, said the expansion reflected the booming growth and mainstream acceptance of action sports.

"It used to be that schoolteachers and parents and other people with a big influence on kids were saying there's no future in it," said Pastrana, a freestyle motocross legend and rally racing star. "You found, really, that the true passion in action sports comes from that, but what's awesome is that it's now accepted more socially.

"It's giving kids the opportunity to really chase their dreams and parents the opportunity to see that these are legitimate sports with real money [involved]. And at the same time it's still core and fun. I'm super pumped about the expansion."

X Games competitions have been held abroad in recent years but as lower-profile events. Under the Global X plan all six events will be similar in size and scope, and a website will be created to devote year-round coverage to all things related to the events.

Unlike the U.S. Dew Tour, a summer and winter action sports series run by NBC, each Global X event will be stand-alone, with no points or standings determining a series winner. Each, Guglielmino said, will be regarded as a major, like the PGA Tour's four majors.

The bidding process will begin next year and the most likely scenario is that there will be four summer and two winter Global X events, but it's possible that there will be three summer and three winter competitions.

Core sports will remain the same at each venue. For example, the gargantuan mega-ramp, used for immensely popular big-air skateboarding and BMX competitions, will be featured at each summer venue.

But it's also possible, according to X Games creator Ron Semiao, that sports will be added at specific venues where certain sports are important to a specific area's culture. For example, if Australia were to land an X Games, surfing might be added as a discipline for that event.

Semiao does not believe the expansion, which will include 130 hours of live programming for the six events, is a gamble. Rather, he said, the timing is perfect because action sports have worked their way into the mainstream youth culture to the point where they're as accepted, if not more so, than traditional sports.

"You now have a situation where if you go into a teen's garage, you will see a football and a basketball and a baseball and a snowboard and a dirt bike, a BMX bike and a skateboard along with a soccer ball," Semiao said. "They are all part of sports and have worked their way into the generally accepted sports culture, particularly with youth."

The timing of the expansion comes shortly after it was announced that freeskiing halfpipe competitions -- staple X Games events for men and women -- will debut at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

Freeskiing star Sarah Burke acknowledged that her already busy schedule will become more hectic, but said she'd work the X Games competitions into her itinerary. "The X Games has always been the main one; the dream that everyone strives to be part of," she said. "I know it's going to be the top event on everyone's schedule and they'll make room for it. And I think everyone's really excited to see how it goes."

-- Travis Pastrana image (top) courtesy of Dom Cooley/Shazamm/ESPN Images. Sarah Burke image courtesy of C. Van Hanja / ESPN Images

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X Games to include rally racing on downtown L.A. streets

The evolution of the X Games into a largely motorized action sports festival will continue this summer with the addition of Enduro X and the expansion of rally car racing to include a competition circuit on the streets of downtown Los Angeles.

ESPN announced Monday that X Games 17 will be held July 28-31 at Staples Center and other downtown venues. It'll mark the ninth summer the extravaganza has been staged in Los Angeles.

Enduro X will feature men's and women's motorcycle competitions on an all-terrain obstacle course, with mud, sand, logs and boulders thrown into the mix. It'll be one of eight Moto X competitions inside Staples Center.

Rally car racing will for the first time include competition on a more expansive street course and the change -- there also is a RallyCross competition -- apparently is popular among athletes.

"Having RallyCross at last year's X Games was a huge step for the sport, but racing through city streets is how motorsport began," Tanner Foust, a three-time X Games rally gold medalist, told ESPN. "Being in the car, ripping through streets, cranking the handbrake through intersections while door-to-door and jumping next to buildings is going to be truly epic!"

Tickets for X Games 17 will be available June 23 via Ticketmaster locations and at the Staples Center box office.

-- Image showing Tanner Foust ahead of the Rally Car Racing pack at X Games 16 is courtesy of Lars Gange/Shazamm/ESPN Images

All signs point to freeskiing making Olympics debut in 2014

First came snowboarding, accepted into the Olympics ungraciously in 1998, stumbling over unpleasant obstacles before eventually flourishing to become one of the Winter Games' most-watched sports.

Now it's freeskiing's turn.

Though it's not yet official, freeskiing halfpipe and slopestyle disciplines -- like their snowboarding counterparts, incredibly popular X Games sports -- are widely expected to debut at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

 

The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Assn., the national governing body for Olympic skiing and snowboarding, is so sure about the impending adoption of both sports that it has formed U.S. Freeskiing, a development program that parallels its U.S. Ski Team and U.S. Snowboarding brands.

Likewise, freeskiers are rallying behind the fairly new Assn. of Freeskiing Professionals, which aspires to provide a unified voice when dealing with promoters and governing bodies, including the International Ski Federation, or FIS, which governs ski sports for World Cup competitions and World Championships -- both of which play a role in Olympics qualification.

"We are extremely excited," said Target-sponsored Simon Dumont, a perennial X Games medalist from Bethel, Maine, who last Friday finished third in the halfpipe competition at the X Games in Aspen, Colo. "The sport has progressed so much in the last five years and to get a chance to showcase what we can do on such a global stage would be amazing for our sport."