Vans Park Series Finals Photo Recap
What you have here is Brighton Zeuner floating a back three during the women’s finals of the Vans Park Series that took place last Saturday in Malmö. She’s only 12 and she won the damn thing. She was doing everything from inverts in the deep end to gap to lipslides on the pool coping extension. I’d never seen anything like it. Anyway unable to contain her joy after ending her flawless run with this trick she instantly covered her face with her hands before lifting them as high as she could into the sky. It was nothing like the other examples of Red Bull fuelled self-props we witnessed later that day, it was sweet, naive. I’d go a far as saying it was cute. Does that make us sexist? Brighton you rule.
The other thing that needs mentioning here (and probably should have been mentioned first) is the park itself. It was built for the Vans Park Series Finals but will be permanent. In our eyes it’s an example of what should be done when shitloads of money is invested by brands into events of this scale. Vans worked closely with Gustav Eden (Skateboarding coordinator for The City of Malmö) and Malmö’s skateboarding association to split the costs with the council and found the area that would benefit the most from the build. Before the park had even opened to the public local kids had found a way to sneak in and nick some of the pro’s boards to play around the bowl. They were so gutted when they got kicked out that they started chucking stones at the security! Having something like this that will entice kids to spend more time outdoors is huge for a zone that’s being regenerated.
If you’re curious about exactly how all this came about, our next issue will feature an in depth interview with Gustav about his work with the council to promote skateboarding and how it culminated in his (already very spoilt) city getting yet another incredible skatepark. Keep an eye out for it.
Oski, the chosen one… If spontaneity and style counted for as much as they should in these things Oski would have won by a landslide. Watching him flow around that place was definitely the highlight of the weekend. I’m not surprised Pontus’ Oksi plackards made it all the way to the after party… An after party that was of course ruled by this guy:
For those of you that don’t know Denis Lynn, he’s basically like a European Fred Gall. He’s the guy you need at your skate event even if he doesn’t step on his skateboard once. He’s a (self-proclaimed) legend.
Below are some more of Leo Sharp’s shots from the action-packed weekend. Hopefully they’ll keep you hyped for Tor “Tao” Strom’s edit that we should be dropping first thing tomorrow.
