Daniel Dhers defended his gold medal in BMX Park on Saturday afternoon, employing a risky strategy by skipping his third run to conserve energy for his final two trips through the sweltering concrete course. The strategy paid off when Dhers edged Dennis Enarson in a tiebreaker.
"I knew that heat was going to be a big, big factor," said Dhers, who has now won four gold medals in Park. "I'm so stoked right now. When it came time for the last run, I thought to myself, 'I'm gonna try it,' and I'm glad it worked. I feel like out of all the gold medals I've won, this one has a whole new meaning to me. It was hard, but I was really happy to get it working in the end."
Dhers runs included corked 720s on the step down, indian air tailwhips and alley-oop double tailwhip 270 transfers.
Tied with Dhers at 81 points, Enarson needed a 36-point run (out of a possible 50) on his final trip through the course to top Dhers' third-best score. But the 20-year-old San Diego rider -- unaware of what he needed to win gold -- fell and scored just 20 points to settle for his second straight silver in Park. Enarson's runs employed more of a bowl riding strategy than Dhers, and included double tailwhip pocket airs, classically styled backflip tailwhips and fakie step through nosepicks in the deep end.
Scotty Cranmer, a two-time Park gold medalist (2006, 2009), won bronze. Chase Hawk placed fourth, followed by X Games Park veteran Gary Young in fifth.
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