r TOP/BOTTOM
LEFT: Jacko makes
the quarter-pipe
work for a Double
Backflip despite
carrying an injury.
BOTTOM RIGHT/
MID: Destin Cantrell
gets his teeth into his
first X Games gold.
2. JACKO LANDS THE DOUBLE
DROP
Defending Best Trick champion and Aussie
hard-man, Jacko Strong, came into the 2017
X Games with two goals. First was to land the
Double Drop (a drifting Double Backflip off a
quarter-pipe ramp that almost knocked him out
of the Best Trick contest last year), and second,
to defend his title.
The lead-up couldn’t have gone much worse
for him: five weeks before X Games, Jacko was
filming for Real Moto when he crashed hard
and broke his scaphoid (one of the small bones
in the centre of your hand). Scaphoids are
notoriously slow to heal and Jacko’s case was
no exception, as he arrived in Minneapolis still
sporting a cast. Days before the big show, he
made the decision to forego the FMX contest
and focus on his one Best Trick jump.
“It was just painful, but it didn’t affect my
strength or anything,” he explained. “If I hung
on it would be okay, and after spending months
going into the foam-pit, there’s no way I was
going to pull out of X Games altogether.”
If he didn’t land the Double Drop first time, his
wrist wouldn’t be able to cope with two big hits
and he’d have to pull out of the comp.
But Jacko always seems to rise to the
occasion: he gritted his teeth against the pain
and successfully sent and landed the Double
Drop. Despite the effort, a slight foot-drag from
the impact of landing saw him place second
behind Sherwood’s Double Flip Nac to One-
Hander.
“Of course I was disappointed not to win,
but it is what it is,” he shrugged. “I can’t take
anything away from Levi and I was just stoked
to land it and ride it out.
“But the Double Drop is something I’ll never do
again, as it’s hard to stay straight and if you get
crooked you’re up s**t creek. The whole trick
is all shades of f**ked up and while I’m glad to
have landed it now, I’m happy to never do it
again.”
3. CANTRELL CAN WHIP
There were few bigger smiles on the winners’
podiums than that of 27-year-old Californian,
Destin Cantrell, after the Best Whip contest.
Cantrell has built a reputation for huge whips
but has inexplicably always been overlooked
for a spot in the Best Whip popularity contest.
After years of fighting for a chance on the big
stage, he was awarded a spot in 2017 and
immediately justified his qualification through