Castañeda enters X Games final

KUALA LUMPUR – Skater Leo Castañeda made up for a forgettable climb by Kristian Guerrero in bouldering finals as he barged into the championship round of the park event with a ninth place finish in the elims in the Asian X Games Qualifier at the Persiaran KLCC grounds Saturday here.

The 20-year-old Castañeda’s 75 points in the first of two 60-second runs netted him a trip to the finals of this event where skaters are judged on their aggressiveness, originality, maneuverings and variety of tricks while using the course, ramps, boxes and handrails.

Australia expectedly dominated the event with Jeff Williams (84.3) emerging the top qualifier while two other compatriots — Corbin Harris (83) and Darren Kachne (82) — took the third and fourth positions, respectively. Mohd Ramli of Malaysia finished second with 83.6 points.

Despite the Aussies’ impressive performance and credentials, Castañeda, who topped the Philips X Rush and Rage events in Manila last year, remains confident of his chances for the gold in this event presented by Toyota and organized and staged by ESPN Star Sports. Winner of this event will earn a trip to the US Summer X Games slated Aug. 12-22 in Pennsylvania.

But while Castañeda cruised into the finals, compatriot Christopher Amowas crashed out, finishing 24th in a field of 25 with 58 points.

Earlier, the final route proved to be too tough a wall for Guerrero to scrape as the Filipino bet finished 15th and last in the sport climbing finals.

Guerrero, 19, made three attempts in tackling the two routes and finished with an average of 36.41 percent in the highly demanding event ruled by Korean Jae Yong-lee.

In a sport where premium is on hand power and style, Jae had the big crowd roaring as he made the highest climb in Route 1, even showing off by hanging for 2-3 seconds with only two fingers sticking in one of the climbing holes.

Then he came up with an equally heart-stopping climb in Route 2 which he completed with flair and relative ease to retain the gold medal he won in Phuket, Thailand last year. He scored an average of 93.33 percent to beat Japan’s Hiroshi Okano (86.67%) and Aussie Alan Pryce (76.67%) for a spot in the Summer X Games.