Canadian 720s his way to gold - Slam City Jam 2005 (By Michael Kwan

Thursday, 01 September 2005

Canadian 720s his way to gold - Slam City Jam 2005

By Michael Kwan, Chief Correspondent, THECOMMENTARY.CA

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Beginning today, Michael Kwan will report to The Commentary as its Chief Correspondent. Not infrequently, he will report about special events in and around Vancouver.)

VANCOUVER - Pierre-Luc Gagnon of Montreal, the only Canadian in the Vert Finals, took home the gold and $15,000 USD for his exceptional performance this past weekend at the 12th annual Slam City Jam. Gagnon was the top-ranked qualifier, beating out 16 other skaters including 1999 champion Mathias Ringstrom of Sweden. Earlier this month, he also took home top honours at the X-Games in Los Angeles as fans stood awe-struck watching on ESPN.

Over 20,000 attended the three-day event at BC Place Stadium, with nearly 10,000 skateboarding freaks packing the stands on Sunday. This capped the newly proclaimed "Skateboarding Week" in Vancouver-as decreed by Mayor Larry Campbell-with an excellently entertaining weekend of action.

Terrific efforts in the half-pipe were put up by all the competitors. Veteran Lincoln Ueda of Sao Paulo, one of four Brazilians in the final, put up a solid routine for his second run; he had excellent extension and caught big air for his backside 540 before missing a move jumping the channel. He never fully recovered.

Relative newcomer Gagnon, 25, even beat out the two pre-qualified superstars who were heavy favourites heading into Sunday's competition. Sandro Dias of Santo Andre, Brazil is known around the globe as the 540 master, perfecting 12 variations of dizzying move. Each of his three runs were highlighted by a number of his signature 540s… he nailed five in his first run. Nearing the end of all three of his runs, Dias sought to steal the show with a 900 - that's two and a half full rotations - unfortunately, all attempts were failures, including his last where he dislocated his shoulder. It was promptly popped back in-all in a day's work for a skateboarder

Bucky Lasek, the 2002 and 2004 Vert champion from Baltimore, punctuated his runs with a switch McTwist and Indy 360s, but fell near the conclusion of his final two runs and could not come out with a first-place score. He did manage to take home third place and $5000 for a good first run, scoring 88.5.

Pierre-Luc Gagnon came through with three solid runs, ripping up the half-pipe with a big twist 540, front-side Ollie, complicated kickflips, re-grabs, and even a couple of 720s. He scored a 91.5 on his first run and that was enough to take home the championship. Rounding out the top three was 2000 and 2001 champion Bob Burnquist with a score of 90.25 for his second run. He is now $8000 richer.

Over 50 skaters duked it out in the Street competition, including second ranked qualifier Antoine Asselin, a 15-year old with amateur status. Other notables included Bill Marks, Josh Harmony, and Ronnie Creager, the 31-year-old from Orange, California who took home the prize in the Concrete Powder Invitational Manual Contest.

Last year's champion, Greg Lutzka of Milwaukee couldn't defend his crown against the formidable opponents. In the end, the top three winners were all from the state of California: Paul Rodriguez, better known as P-Rod in skating circles, got first place and $15,000. The 20-year-old from North Hills beat out the other 20-year-old from North Hills, Jereme Rogers; the runner-up was awarded $8000. Bronze went to 2003 champion, Ryan Sheckler, 15, of San Clemente.

Amy Caron, Lacey Baker and Lauren Perkins -all Californians- finished one-two-three in the Women's Street competition. Cara-Beth Burnside successfully defended her Women's Vert win from last year, earning a sweet $2500 paycheque, while Mimi Knoop and Lyn-z Adams Hawkins won second and third, respectively.

In the "Best Trick" contests, Chris Haslam of Richmond, BC was bent on completing a one-footed grind across the Bones Rail. Judges even gave him an extra 10 minutes on top of the regular 10-minutes allotted for the challenge, but he just couldn't pull it off. Gailea Momolu, the 24-year-old from Huntington Beach, then won $1000 for his nollie big spin backside lipslide. Haslam fought back and scored $1000 with a crooked grind to front-foot late flip in the second contest on the Sessions ledge.

Slam City Jam was sponsored by Solo Mobile, and presented by Vans.

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Photos from the event taken by Susanne Shum can be found here: http://photobucket.com/albums/a224/now_thats_entertainment/scj05/

Michael Kwan's website can be found here: http://www.geocities.com/now_thats_entertainment

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Questions and comments may be sent to: editor@thecommentary.ca