Can’t say we have a stake in the “do tricks MEAN less when they are in a sanctioned contest setting at a street spot?!”-debate that has been reverberating this past week (on account of the Alex Midler kickflip back lip.) It’s probably a bit like being a graffiti dude and painting on a legal wall, right? You’re not going to get stories like the one of Pops stealing the switch ollie down the Love Gap from right under the cops’ noses if there’s a contest going on. And also that’s fine.
But a lot of that probably has to do with how much skateboarding is out there right now, and that the rampage of tricks a street contest produces only piles on to the insurmountable mountain of #content already out there.
Vinny Ponte did that (first?) ollie down the Love Gap in a contest, and I’m sure none of the twelve people who skated back in 1891 were debating whether it was “legit” or not.
Original Clips:
Intro via @willmarsh on IG [link] 10) Karsten Kleppan via Nike SB’s “U.K. Boardwalk Tour” video [link] 9) Louie Lopez via Converse Cons’ “Somewhere in Pennsylvania” video [link] 8) Gustav Tonnesen via IG [link] 7) Shane O’Neill via April Skateboards’ “Diego” video [link] 6) Gabriel Fortunato via IG [link] 5) Jake Johnson via Converse Cons’ “Somewhere in Pennsylvania” video [link] 4) Diego Najera via April Skateboards’ “Diego” video [link] 3) Alex Midler via IG [link] 2) Eddie Cernicky via “Welcome to Krooked” part [link] 1) Tom Knox via IG [link]
Previously: November 8, 2019
That kf back lip was valid af even for a contest — cant wait for Hardies x Adidas to clear the permits for the rail jam outside MSG
Forrreal, nobody on Slap or “skate Twitter” had any issue with the Tyshawn kickflip over the table and that was a contest.
It’s more because Alex Midler is shrimp than it being in a contest.
Arto seemed to think the kick flip back lip was chill so I’m cool with it;)
Choppy Omega ollied the Love Gap first a year or two before Ponte. Oyola can verify.
Vinnie Ponte > Choppy Omega
The Love Gap thing makes me think of how sick (but impossible) it would be if there was a coffee table book that shows landmark moments in skateboarding alongside a photo of the actual skateboard setup that the person used