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Having claimed his first X Games gold medal, all the way back in 2011, Strong realizes there is a target on his back, and as the most accomplished Big Trick highflyer ever, the competition is looking to gun him down out of the sky.
“Yeah, I’ve been at it for a while now,” he said. “I kind of feel like I’ve been doing it for a long time and have had success over the years, but I’ve also had equally as much defeat out of it, as well. I don’t know… Best Trick is a love-hate relationship. It’s a really tough contest. Especially mentally. Every time out you’re going into doing something bigger than you’ve ever done before and it’s just a real play on the mind to try to get through the event and to get through the weekend. My nails get short this time of year as I’m always biting them. Yeah, you’re licking the f@#king stamp sending it. It’s definitely a tough one.
“Yeah, I’ve done a lot of practice for these X Games,” furthered Strong. “I did a lot more practice on the bike this year, so hopefully I can string it together, you know? I’d love a gold medal, but at the end of the day, I just want to do the trick that I’ve set out to do and get that done and do it clean and if I can do that, well, I’ll be happy. It’s just so hard for me to get through an event these days because what we are doing is so gnarly. It’s a difficult one, for sure.
“It’s just a lot of time and a lot of practice and a lot of time in the foam pit,” Strong said. “It’s just repetition over and over. Best Trick doesn’t seem to get any easier each year. It’s like no matter what you’re doing, you are kind of pushing yourself to 100-percent and you just have to perform and to just bring it.”
Strong pulled a Jackhammer Front-Flip which earned him a silver medal in Best Trick 2023, and he talked about the trick he will unveil come competition time Saturday night in Ventura.
“I went to a different trick than I did last year and just recently I decided to go back to the same trick that I did last year,” explained Strong. “I ended up working on the trick and getting it a lot bigger and a lot cleaner in the foam pit, so I’m really hoping that I can do an extended version of what I did last year. I realized that I still had some more to do with that trick. I wasn’t content with where I left it last year. I’m going to try and send that thing to the moon and get some real extension in that. That’s my X Games focus for this year.
“It’s X Games Best Trick and there is going to be some big new tricks out there, so for me, I just try and stay in my own lane. I don’t try and look at the competition or look at any of that stuff. I just focus on the job I have to do and why I’m here. I’m trying to get that done and that seems to help me mentally and to help me stay a little calmer over the weekend.”
Watch Strong’s winning run here:
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