Another action filled week in the latest episode and you won’t be able to stop watching!
The show this week
In this week’s show we go surfing in Lebanon with Adrien Toyon, Wasted Talent and Vans. Then its off to the mountains of Lesotho for the Winter Whip with LW Magazine and Afriski. We check out a killer session by Dlamini Dlamini at the Berrics skate compound and then head to Indonesia for Mason Ho and friends in his latest video, Green Monkey. Lastly check out Jack Robinson on Instagram with his latest post from Mexico.
Win a pair of Volcom Boardshorts
Win a pair of Volcom Boardshorts this week (Winner announced next week in Ep4). Simply subscribe to my youtube channel and follow Volcom and myself on Instagram. Leaving a comment will certainly aid your chances. Good luck!
What a week in extreme sports this week! We had X games delivering world firsts, Donkey Bay was firing and the free ride MTB boys dropped the Loosefest XL edit. All the action from the week in the video below and I have put every featured video in the playlist below it (You can just press play, wide screen and enjoy all the videos back to back.)
Enjoy the Show
Here is the playlist of the featured Videos
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I have known this guy a long time. We hit the road back in the haze of the Dew Tour in SA. Back then he was a good, young skater with a lot of attitude, some serious promise and big dreams. He has matured into one of the biggest names in the SA skateboard scene and seriously good human. He always has time for the kids and the fans, which says a lot about a person in my book.
Not Just a Skateboard Star
Khule has always been passionate about skating and music. It has been cool to see him develop both and now do well at both. I am hoping his star really shines, so MTV finally make our show, Khule and Big White… (If you know skating and reality shows, you will get it.) But really, we need to make that show.
Grant has Skills too
This web series is made by passionate extreme sports and lifestyle photographer, Grant Mclachlan, or Juicy as we call him. One of the SA Monster Energy crew, the guy has serious skills behind the camera and a big passion for skating. Look out for more bodies from this guy in the future.
As is the norm the world’s best X athletes did not dissapoint this last week in Minneapolis. There were some incredible performances during Xgames 2018.
Skateboard
Lets start with skateboarding and Nyjah Huston. The already 7 times Gold medal winner put in a flawless performance to take home the Gold. It has been a while since his last win and was amazing to see Nyjah back to his best.
In the ladies, I was super impressed with Skateboard Park Gold winner, Brighton Zeuner. She pushed the levels of ladies park riding with a pretty impeccable run.
In men’s Park, Alex Sorgente blew minds with his variety and combinations in the park, fighting off big names like Alex Barros to take Gold.
Bmx
In the Bmx it was a mad day of riding, with the boys pushing the limits of the sport. After seeing some of these guys at Ultimate X earlier this year, I was pumped to see some of the guys were out here, dominating at XGames.
In the dirt it was Brandon Loupos with an astounding run for Gold. He had a backflip into the double backflip, then a cash rollto triple tailwhip and then the big finish of a flare doible tailwhip.
Logan Martin was one of the guys who really impressed me in SA. We did not get to see him in heavy bowl sections though, where he blew up at Bmx Park at Xgames.
James Foster stepped up the game in the Bmx Big Air with a massive superman over the jump to the first Quadruple Tailwhip in the competition.
Fmx
In the FMX the levels keep just going up, though how I just dont know. Jackson “Jacko” Strong took gold in the Fmx Best Trick with a Doube frontflip no hander.
When you open your Fmx Freestyle run with a double backflip no hander, you are going for Gold.The French heavyweight, Tom Pages smashed his second run for Gold.
Those are my top picks! remember you can go check out the full event videos on the Xgames Youtube Page with Monster Energy. Enjoy your Monday.
Cape Town skater, Jean Marc Johannes, has had an up down few years and now he comes back home with the Gold Medal at the FISE World Amateur event, making for a great end to the year. Jean Marc flew the flag for South Africa from day 1, qualifying in 1st place with a run of 89 points, before taking out the final, with the run below, for an 85 score and the Gold Medal. Well done dude and hope to see you continuing the winning streak.
The inaugural Nitro World Games took place July 16 at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City. Travis Pastrana changed the game so many times it only made sense that his dream event would do the same thing. There were 32 never before done tricks at the Nitro Games this weekend, from the likes of winners Colton Walker,Levi Sherwood, Elliot Sloan, Gregg Duffy and with the new formats and judging system we may just see even more very soon. What will be especially interesting is how this will effect the more staple events such as X games and Dew Tour. Of course some of the events had mostly Nitro Circus athletes, who are the only people able to hit the giant ramps with specially modified landings, but it dont change the fact that the guys made history! Check out the winning runs below and I have also put the entire event stream up for you guys. Make some popcorn, gran a cold one and blow your mind!
On a side note, it is very interesting to see the outcry online over why they did not show the scooter and inline runs. While both are almost non-existent in SA, scooter has one of the biggest fan bases in the USA. On top of this it was a scooter athlete, Ryan Williams, who won the BMX best trick with a never before seen trick!
Some hate him, others worship him, but what none of us can deny is that Nyjah Huston changed the game. He is most definitely not your old school punk rock skater, but he skates pretty dam punk rock!
What happens when you ask Nyjah if he has any footage laying around? You get 4 minutes you won’t soon forget.
Keep up with Thrasher Magazine here: http://www.thrashermagazine.com
The title says it all. Skateboarding’s Iron Man tops himself by literally taking things to the next level. Danny Way sets out to break his own highest air record and after a punishing wipeout sets a new world record of 25.5ft.
This year I have been lucky enough to MC on the Skateboarding for Hope, presented by Vans, around South Africa. The tour, which is operated by the Kimberley Diamond Cup, holds events around the country with clinics and free equipment for underprivileged areas and street skate competitions for SA skaters. Having attended all the major events in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg, the major revelation for me has been that Skateboarding is truly the most inclusive sport in our country. Our skateboarders come from all cultures, races and urban demographics with probably the right ratios to make even our Governments stern demand for race quotas in sport a reality. The best part though is not one of those skaters cares about race or culture in their fellow skaters. The SA Skate crew roll together as a unified group of athletes who are all friends and are all in the sport because they are passionate about skateboarding. The rest of SA could take a big lesson from these perceived rebels of society. While the skaters are competing against one another, and believe me the competition is fierce, there is nothing but support and positivity amongst the crew outside of heats. When a skater, in a heat lands a big trick, the whole event lights up and the most noise and support is coming from their fellow skaters.
Moving forward it would be incredible to see more Brands and local Governments in South Africa and Africa getting involved, following the lead set by the Northern Cape and the brands already involved such as Vans and Red Bull. Skateboarding requires a board and a pair of shoes, equipment that is also a mode of transport and the start of a dedicated sport lifestyle. It is an incredible diversion from common dangers in poor areas such as gangsterism and drugs. An old misconception is that skateboarders are rebels and into drugs, but many of the new breed of skater are profesional athletes with their eye on the prize of an international career. These are the skaters inspiring the next generation. South Africa desperately needs more parks and skateboarding areas dedicated to the kids. This becomes apparent all over the country when kids sign up to skate the competitions, not because they want to compete, but because it is the opportunity to ride a proper, world class skate park, which is setup by Old School Productions for every event. If every city council in SA committed to building just one major plaza in a central location for the cities population, I can guarantee they would notice a difference within a few short months in the local communities. Kids are drawn to skating, it is accessible and the costs are not not astronomical. Those same plazas would attract sponsored events and help fast track our own skateboarders to where they could compete overseas and earn a salary from the sport.
All in all, skateboarding in SA is growing fast and with the world’s richest skateboarding event coming to Kimberley once again from the 7-11 October, along with the World’s best skateboarders, you can expect that growth to continue.
Blows my mind how this guy took what most would have accepted as a life without adventure and risk, having no legs, and turned it around to not only push himself, but the sport. Bloody inspirational man!
Italo Romano is from Curitiba, south of Brazil, and he has a unique story. At 11 years of age, Italo had an accident playing with his friends which cost him both legs. But, what seemed like a tragedy ended up being a new way of life, and a year after the accident he was back on the board. He believed in his talent and gave everything up to try to make a career out of skateboarding. After two video parts and many achievements in the skateboarding world, he was finally able to turn pro at 23. For Italo Romano, it’s “never give up, never give in, you make your own way”.
Watch Italo Romano’s inspirational story, and if this doesn’t get you pumped to get out and skate, we’re not sure what will.
