Paris Rosen injured in X Games motocross fall

The competitior lands on his back while attempting a trick and lies motionless on the course for several minutes. He is taken to a hospital for X-rays; his manager says Rosen was able to move his toes.

The near-absence of noise was the telling sign, just what you didn’t want to hear at the X Games. Rarely had it been so quiet at Staples Center.

Motocross rider Paris Rosen was motionless on the course and was staying that way as the minutes ticked off. He went for it in the best-trick competition Friday night, attempting a front flip, but he landed hard on his back.

As awful as it looked in real time, it was worse on the replay.

Medical personnel loaded him onto a gurney and carried him through Staples Center’s back corridors to an ambulance, which took him to a hospital. His manager said that Rosen was able to move his toes, and the crowd at Staples Center was given the optimistic report that he was awake, talking and able to move his extremities.

Rosen’s mother stood by the elevator in the hallway, holding her son’s helmet as the medical team took her son to the ambulance.

Later on Friday night, Lucas Mirtl, Rosen’s manager, said that the rider was having X-rays taken. Mirtl said he had not heard any news, adding: “I’m sure he’s going to be fine.�

Rosen, 29, who grew up in Apple Valley, Minn., and lives in Phoenix, is not a newcomer to the sport. He has been racing for 10 years; a Minneapolis Star-Tribune story last year said Rosen had broken only three bones in his motocross career.

His colleagues talked about the nature of the sport.

“I guess it was a mistake,� said vert winner Cam Sinclair of Australia. “I made a mistake last year in Spain as well.... Mistakes could happen quite easily.�

Said second-place finisher Robbie Maddison of Australia: “Those jumps, any jumps, you can pull off in your own environment, to go to your own compound. But when you come to X Games, you’ve got world-wide media and packed stands. It adds a different element to it.... Hopefully he gets better soon.�

King of the X Games

That would be none other than Pierre-Luc Gagnon of Canada. Gagnon added two more gold medals to his glitzy X Games resume, winning the skateboard vert and adding skateboard best trick at the Nokia Theatre.

Gagnon has won 16 X Games medals, seven of them gold. His skateboard vert was his third straight, the first time someone has three-peated in that event.

He fought off a determined challenge from Shaun White in the first of the two events. White, who finished second, later pulled out of the skateboard best-trick event.

“I don’t think I’ve ever won two medals in one day,� Gagnon said. “It was amazing, especially after the way Shaun, Andy [Macdonald] and Bucky [Lasek] skated.

“Shaun did a really good run. For some reason, after he did a good run I kind of got a boost.�

The skateboarding world quit being surprised by White’s feats long ago. “He literally hadn’t skated in like a year and a half,� Macdonald said. “And two months ago he started going to the ramp with us. He could do all his tricks, but he wasn’t solid. Here it is two months later, and he was blasting tonight.�

Upset in

women’s vert

Gaby Ponce pointed and aimed her camera at the monitor featuring the final results in the mixed zone, evidence for everyone back home in New Jersey. “I wanted to send it to my mom as a picture message,� Ponce said. “We couldn’t afford a flight for her and my sister.�

The 18-year-old Ponce was responsible for a major upset, beating the highly accomplished Lyn-z Adams Hawkins in the women’s skateboard vert final. Neither woman could quite hit the highly coveted McTwist, but Ponce said this was her closest yet.

Other results

Jamie Bestwick won his seventh BMX freestyle gold medal after posting a score of 90 in the event. Bestwick has been dominant in his sport for many years, and has won the last four Dew Tours along with his X Games victories.

Matt Buyten added to his collection of X Games gold, winning the moto X step up. This was his third time winning the event. He cleared 33 feet 6 inches on the winning jump. Both Buyten and Ronnie Renner missed their first two attempts at 33-6 and Buyten made it on the third.

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Times staff writers Laura Myers and DeAntae Prince contributed to this report.