Sheehan wins Sydney Red Bull X-Fighters event

In front of a sell-out crowd of 11,000 on Sydney Harbour's Cockatoo Island, both Sheehan and Cameron Sinclair nailed a total of three double backflips. Sheehan came up against Torres in the semi final, where a couple of missed tricks from the Spaniard opened the door for Sheehan to progress through to the final against Sherwood. A close result in that final went the way of Sheehan, givinghim his first win, and the first Red Bull X-Fighters victory for an Aussie in more than a year.

"I had a couple of extra tricks left in my run. I thought 'stuff it' and I'll make up for it (after the near crash in his semifinal run)," Sheehan said soon after his victory.
"I was confident I could do it and went and did it. I did whatever I could with the time left over. I'm so pumped! I really wanted my first win after getting on the podium a few times. It's great to win for the first time here in Australia. I'm so happy. The double backflip is just so hard doing it. There's a lot of pressure on your mind when you've got 10 or 12 tricks in your head. You have to stay calm but when I came to the double I was pumped and confident I could do it."

The round win for Sheehan came on the back of podium finishes at Madrid and Rome. A fourth overall in the championship means the Aussie automatically qualifies to compete in next year's Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour.

For Dany Torres, getting third place at Sydney was enough to clinch the overall title from Nate Adams (USA) who had taken top honors in 2009 and 2010.

"It's been dream ever since I started freestyle," Torres said upon claiming the 2011 championship.
"Now it's real and I'm very happy. I'm really, really, really happy. It's the first time that I won the championship. I'm very happy and it's so much fun here with this crowd."

Adams took part despite a broken shoulder but ended up in 11th place. Torres won the season-opener in Dubai (UAE) and in the bullfighting ring of Madrid (ESP). Adams had the best tricks to win the events in Brasilia (BRA), Rome (ITA) and Poznan (POL).

Final results Sydney (AUS) 2011: 1. Josh Sheehan (AUS), 2. Levi Sherwood (NZL), 3. Dany Torres (ESP), 4. Mike Mason (USA), 5. Rob Adelberg (AUS), 6. Adam Jones (USA); 11. Nate Adams (USA), 12. Eigo Sato (JPN)

Final World Tour standings (after 6 of 6 events): 1. Dany Torres (ESP) 390 points, 2. Nate Adams (USA) 375, 3. Andre Villa (NOR) 270, 4. Josh Sheehan (AUS) 230, 5. Blake Williams (AUS), 6. Eigo Sato (JPN), 7. Levi Sherwood (NZL), 8. Adam Jones (USA), 9. Robbie Maddison (AUS), 10. Maikel Melero (ESP)

Pictures: Balazs Gardi, Joerg Mitter and Mark Watson for Red Bull X-Fighters