The Phenom and The Fearless

What a weekend! From June 27th to 30th the famous X Games stopped in Munich for the very first time and pumped up the historic Olympic Park with amazing extreme sport action. At the premiere of the Mountain Bike Slopestyle contest, two Conti athletes reached for medals: Anton Thelander won gold in the junior contest Red Bull Phenom and Andreu Lacondeguy took home bronze for his fearless run during the main slopestyle event.

It couldn’t be more exciting: the unreliable weather didn’t make it easy for the slopestyle riders. On Friday, training took place as planned, but on Saturday, rain hindered the second round of practice before the main competition the following day. With respectively small preparation time, the weather on Sunday was not for the faint hearted. First up, at midday was Anton Thelander who was determined to make his runs stick and started in the Red Bull Phenom contest with high spirits. This separate event was carried out on the same course as the main slopestyle competition and gave six aspiring athletes the opportunity to put their skills to the test on an extremely large course. Despite strong winds and an unfortunate slip during his first run on the step-up, the convinced Continental Race King rider stood calm and collected at the top of the 8m starting, ready to drop in again for his second run. Anton nailed it! He impressed the judges with a huge flat spin 360, two tail whips and a stunning 360 on the massive final drop. A well deserved gold medal for the young Swede!

You can watch the full Red Bull Phenom contest, including Anton’s winning run on: http://www.redbull.com/de/bike/stories/1331598401237/red-bull-phenom-live


For Catalonian rider, Andreu Lacondeguy who has a strong preference for big dirt jumps a childhood dream came true when he was announced as a rider for X Games Munich. Although he too had to tackle the strong wind and actually struggled one week before with 2 dislocated fingers, he trusted in his YT Industries hardtail and X-Kings tires to keep his grip on the fast slopestyle course during the finals. Andreu was just two runs away from realizing his childhood dream and as the Bavarian evening sun lowered on to the horizon, he dropped in. His first run didn’t last long after he lost his line on to the first big booter. But Andreu climbed back up to the top and dropped in again, this time he powered through the entire course. The big mountain lover showed thousands of spectators a toboggan drop, a massive backflip x up at the 45 foot dirt step up, a flatspin at the step up, a 360 out of the satellite dish, no foot can at the log ride, a backflip and another no foot can at the final drop. His bronze X Games Munich medal will certainly have a place of honor in his trophy cabinet.

Lacondeguy wins bronze with this run - 77.00