Inside the X Games – Part 1

Extreme Sports enthusiast James Berg is in Austin reporting daily on the X Games for XtremeGo.

Day 1:

So after a super fun flight I had arrived, X Games Austin 2014. The venue= Insane. The atmosphere among the staff = Insane. The next week= Insane. Day one was spent scoping the event location, watching skate street practice and the athlete press conference. The street course designers have certainly not held back in making features that leave plenty of space for some creative lines to be thrown down.

The press conference with a number of top athletes including Travis Pastrana, Bob Burnquist and Ken Block took place on Wednesday afternoon. Bob Burnquist, the 12 times X games gold medallist and skateboard Big Air extraordinaire said ‘every year something amazing happens’. Jamie Bestwick, the UK’s superstar BMXer

Jamie Bestwick, the UK’s superstar BMXer, who is going for his ninth consecutive X Games gold medal in BMX Vert on Thursday night, was asked his thoughts on the potential inclusion of BMX in the Olympics to which he said “you are never going to see Usain Bolt fall and crash just before the finish line. BMX gave that excitement at London 2012. Bmx vert,  skateboard vert, they deserves to be there. It gets people excited, if it ends up in the Olympics, it will get the world excited.”

Bestwick is going for his ninth consecutive X Games gold medal in BMX vert on Thursday night, which will be the first nine-peat in X Games history. The quote of the day went to Action Sports sensation Travis Pastrana, after being asked if having to do extra work for his sponsors causes any difficulty for athletes he responded “to have the opportunity to do what you love for a living, there is no greater thing. I really love riding my bike and being with my friends if that includes spending 10 hours on interviews, I’m happy to do that. And anyway, my sponsors always give us really fun things to do!”

Following the press conference the mens and womens street skate practice took place, which was nothing short of sensational. Legends such as Ryan sheckler, Nyjah Huston and Alana Smith practiced with an intensity that made me double take that the official competition hadn’t begun.

All I need to say to summarise, is be prepared for a spectacle. For those who don’t want to just listen to my words about how amazing this event is going to be, X Games Austin is available Live and On-Demand from £3.99 on ESPN Player.