GoPro makes it easier than ever for skateboarders to capture and showcase their own footage, and now the SLS Nike SB World Tour will be covered as never before with spellbinding multi-angle HD slow-mos and incredible handheld shots. GoPro’s versatility and ability to produce stunning content will enhance the live broadcast footage at domestic stops in Kansas City, Portland, and Newark. GoPro HERO3 Black Edition cameras will be mounted to the Street League courses, providing exclusive course previews and jaw-dropping real-time highlights.

In short, GoPro will further the progression of SLS’ live TV experience and improve how fans take in all aspects of Street League.

Already well-known within skateboarding, GoPro also sponsors SLS Pros Sean Malto and Ryan Sheckler.

Chaz

Chaz Ortiz and the rest of the Zoo York team took over Yankee Stadium for Zoo’s latest big-budget commercial. The crew shreds what they find and has a bunch of fun raiding the concession stand and playing video games on the Jumbotron. Skating in a stadium in definitely good practice for Street League’s next stop at Sprint Center in KC.

Sheckler

Etnies just put out a 15-year retrospective video on Ryan Scheckler complete with archival footage, photos, and interviews with the photographers and skaters that watched him develop into what he’s become. This video is a serious reminder of not only how gnarly Shecks is, but also that he’s serious competitor in this series. It’s really a little surprising that he hasn’t taken home a victory yet. He goes bigger than most and has grown into one of the more burley skaters in the industry. I think a Street League victory is definitely in Ryan’s future, he’s one to keep an eye on in Kansas City for sure.

Shane

Shane O’Neil put the smackdown on Koston in semi-final round of Battle at The Berrics. Shane managed to pull out some seriously technical flat ground tricks that even had the Frost Man scratching his head. But it’s gonna take more than flip trickery to pull off a victory in Kansas City. Let’s hope that Shane can translate that technical ability to the obstacles and give the rest a run for their money.

http://theberrics.com/battle-at-the-berrics-6/shane-oneill-vs-eric-koston.html

P-Rod

Hot on the heels of his second place in Barcelona, Paul came through with a sick 5 On Flat this week. Paul skates with style and grace like no other and you can see exactly what I mean by that in this clip. Everything he does is popped high, caught clean, and landed perfectly; not to mention the fact that Paul makes it all look effortless. If anyone is poised to dethrone Nyjah from the top spot in Kansas City, it’s Paul. He took second in Barcy and he’s looking super on-point right now. It will be interesting to see how he does in the rest of the series.

Manny

I brought it up in the intro paragraph, but I gotta talk a little bit more about how awesome and amazing it is that as a Select Series candidate Manny Santiago took home 3rd place at Street League Barcelona. That’s the equivalent of a minor leaguer getting called up to the majors and coming off the bench to hit a home run in a World Series game – just spectacular! Manny deserves a spot in Street League for that alone, but he’s gotta earn it by doing battle in the rest of the Select Series contests which he doesn’t seem to have any problem winning. I have a feeling that he’s gonna pull through again in Kansas City. He’s already shown that he’s a threat in the main contest, who’s to say that he doesn’t pull off a Select win and then give Nyjah a run for his money? Started from the bottom now he here! Manny, Dave Bachinsky, and bunch of their homes recently hit up Palm Springs for some good old fashion shredding. Check out how Manny gets down when he’s not destroying the Street League course.

Then something foul happened. When Paul sketched the landing on a switchstance backside tailslide—scoring just 4.2—Nyjah rolled up right behind him and did the exact same trick, perfectly, scoring a 7.7. One-upping someone is just bad etiquette in street skating; it’s an insult, and one of the most frowned-upon things you can do. Beyond the usual diss factor of one-upping, this is an internationlly-televised, standing-room-only contest. At home, skaters’ eyebrows went up. It was on.

Was Nyjah throwing mental jabs at Paul? Or was the switch backside tailslide simply a trick Nyjah had planned, and P-rod just happened to go before him? Either way, what Nyjah did was certainly not against SLS rules.

Unfazed, Paul followed with a switch kickflip backside 50-50 on the Hubba to match the highest score so far in the Impact Section: 8.8. Paul was back in first, but Nyjah, yet again, responded with another banger: 360 flip 5-0 on the Hubba for a 9.1. Nyjah regained the lead.

It all came down to each skater’s last attempt. Paul could take the lead by making his final trick, or lose with a bail. This is the single most pivotal moment of the contest so far, with everything on the line.

P-Rod brings back the switch backside tailslide, lands clean, and gets an 8.4, pushing him into first.

8.4!? Huh?! Paul and Nyjah did the same trick on the same Hubba, and both executed it flawlessly. Nyjah gets 7.7; Paul gets 8.4: a very big difference of .7.

How was Paul’s exact same trick on the exact same spot worth .7 more? Was Nyjah underscored for poor etiquette? Was Paul given a better score for trying it first? After watching the tricks, would you have scored them differently?

The skaters involved will weigh in with their opinions shortly. In the meantime, here’s what the five SLS judges—well respected street skaters in their own right—have to say about why Paul scored so much higher.

Robbie McKinley: “Because [Paul's] was better. Scoring is based on various factors. Style, how well they did it, speed, pop, length of slide or grind based on the trick, etc. And lastly but more importantly, it was based on our decision and reaction at that moment. We don’t exactly have 10 minutes to ponder—it’s ISX instant scoring. I call it like I see it. There’re five judges, high and low gets dropped, and the remaining three scores are averaged. You know the drill. Basically, the concensus was that it was just better.”

Matt Rodriguez: “When someone wins by .1, you know that there is going to be all sorts of post-critiquing of the entire contest. A lot of what ifs, so to speak. As far as the switch backside tailslide is concerned, I gave them both similar scores as they both had similar “jolty” landings, however Paul got slightly higher of a score as he got on the Hubba higher up. Many people forget that this little difference along with speed and style get taken into consideration when scoring.”

Scott “Big Cat” Pfaff: “From where I sat, Paul’s switch tailslide was done better. Paul got on the Hubba higher, slid farther and really stood up on the trick. It looked to me like Nyjah clicked his truck on the ledge getting in and only slid about the last 12 inches of the ledge. Style will always be a solid factor in the way tricks get scored, and sometimes style is subjective and somewhat intangible. Actually in this same contest Billy Marks and Ryan Sheckler both did Caballerials off the Impact Section and Ryan received a .3 higher score. Personally, I scored Billy’s Caballerial higher but apparently it didn’t come off that way to the other judges. Style and form is the reason Dylan Rieder scored a 7.6 for that switch flip in the Brazil Impact Section, when that trick would generally score around a low 7 or high 6. Every skater having a different style and way of doing tricks is to me a big part of what makes skateboarding so amazing and different from ‘sports’. This isn’t to say that Paul will always score better than Nyjah trick-for-trick, but in this instance Paul’s tailslide just looked a bit better. Sometimes it’s not what you do, it’s the way that you do it.”

Jimmy Gorecki: “In the moment, I felt Paul’s lock-in and slide was much better, and his ride away was much cooler. It seemed like Nyjah went a lot quicker and landed his equally as solid, but it was just was so in-and-out. I don’t know, Paul just had a lot of extra stee on his in my opinion.”

Aaron Snyder: “Call it like we see it. Slid farther, better style, and Nyjah bit Paul’s [trick]. Originality counts. Develop your own [tricks].”

KC and hometown hero Sean Malto, let’s roll!

We need to run this by Chris Cole. He’s an owner of Cult, a BMX company.

I was accidentally in the middle of a little bit of trouble in Barcelona. While rolling around MACBA with Jesus Fernandez and Daniel Lebron, some BMXers from out of town showed up and wanted to ride the ledges. I’m assuming they were in Spain for the same reason we were: Street League and X Games. A local skater stepped up and told the bikers they weren’t welcome to ride.

Obviously that set things off in a rather uncomfortable manner. We were there filming, so I said to our video guy, Jared, “See this going down? Maybe you should capture it.”

The camera was recording and the BMXers were pleading. They explained that they had plastic pegs, only wanted to film one trick, and so on, but it was all in vain. Local homie just told them straight up “No,” and literally lay down on the portion of the ledge that they wanted to ride.

I just sat there and watched it unfold, without saying a word. It’s not my spot—I was a guest. It got slightly heated for a second, less-than-friendly words were exchanged, and the BMXers were ultimately asked to leave by the museum’s security.

We included this in our edit that posted on Ride Channel a couple days later and the anti-skateboarder comments promptly rolled in. It got to where Daniel was even being contacted by local BMXers. Due to the “getting blown out of proportion factor,” we actually edited out most of the interaction.

Then finally a random BMXer found me on Instagram and started an Insta-beef with me. I mean, come on, I’m nearly 40-years-old and I’m in an Insta-battle? He threatened me, so I replied, “Well, I’m down here at X Games watching the BMXers riding the Street League course right now if you want to come find me.” That’s when he tells me he’s in Canada. Ah, social media, so full of empty threats.

For once and for all, here’s my official stance on BMX: Please don’t f#&k up the marble ledges and cement coping. Otherwise, it’s tight.

Christian runs MACBA. Thug Life. Just to clarify, he’s not the one that asked the BMXers to leave.

About Ryan “Clem” Clements

Clem is a bit of a skateboard legend despite never having been a pro skater. He started skateboarding in 1985 in Tampa, Florida. Then, in 1998, when an opportunity to work at Skatepark of Tampa came along, he sold his lawn maintenance business and never looked back. During his tenor as General Manager at SPoT, Clem helped grow the park and its contests’ reputation worldwide, and co-founded SPoT Productions in 2006. In 2010, Ryan created EXCEL Management with Heath Brinkley, to help pro skaters manage their careers. In 2013, Clem moved on from SPoT, and continues forward with EXCEL Management, yet another gig rooted in his love of skateboarding.

$20 for Mikey? Nah, I’m good.

Me, neither.

Okay, I’ll admit that pick isn’t looking great post-event, but the reality is that Shecks killed it in Prelims, posting a Flow Section HST of 8.5. An untimely ankle injury in the Impact Section kept him from advancing to the Final, but please believe that prediction was still gold.

GO GET ‘EM

Paul Rodriguez: Clearly most of you have this guy on your squad, but for those who were wondering if Brazil was an indicator of what’s to come for P-Rod this season, all those fears have been officially put to bed. He’s $20 right now, that’s a full $10-spot less than Nyjah. Not bad for a guy was just a tenth of a point (.1 to be exact) away from winning the contest.

Torey Pudwill: He’s two-for-two in getting to the Final this year and is easily skating the best we’ve seen in a long time. He faded a little earlier than expected in Barcelona, but he’s a bona fide number two on any fantasy team.

Tom Asta: While he didn’t shock the world and qualify for another Final this past weekend, Asta came pretty close. It’s clear that he’s becoming increasingly comfortable with the format and you could do a lot worse things with $10.

KEEP YOUR DISTANCE

Mikey Taylor: Love his consistency and the ability to make consecutive Finals, but his value shot up to $20. That’s first-rate team anchor money right there and, sadly, that’s not Mikey Taylor.

Bastien Salabanzi: Bastien isn’t experiencing the same early-season success that he did in 2012. While I still think he’ll bounce back, I’d still treat him as a wait-and-see type of play.

Think you can play better? Play the SLS Fantasy Game.

See what the controversy is all about with P-Rod and Nyjah’s consecutive switch backside tailslides. Was Nyjah trying to one-up him? Was P-Rod’s really better?

This contest was an all-time great, right in the heart of what is arguably street skating’s Mecca, so grab some popcorn, get comfy, and watch the fireworks.

Watch Select Series Watch Prelims Watch Finals

FLOW SECTION

The Finals even started off with a bang. Cool Sean Malto absolutely set the course on fire in his first run, nailing a slew of difficult tricks like a frontside crooked grind on the rail and a backside overcrooks nosegrind into frontside crooked grind to backside revert on the arched rail. (Hard enough just to describe it.) Pudwill’s street cred is strong; despite an imperfect run, he still managed to throw in a backside tailslide of the entire curved bench—roughly 16 feet!

Luan was definitely on, and his powerful flick could be witnessed on perfect switch 360 flips over the bump-to-bump and a nollie heeflip so popped and crispy it could’ve given him a heel bruise when the board jumped up to his feet. Though his second run was marred by bails, jaws still dropped when Luan wiped himself off the deck and quickly threw out a trick that would’ve scored a 9 in anything but the Flow Section: a switch frontside 360 ollie heelflip on the bump-to-bump. It was ridiculous, beautiful, slow-mo-worthy, and you’ll have to watch the replay if you slept on it. (Speaking of: ESPN’s cameraman was clearly caught off guard… So the instant replay was actually the only way to watch it.)

P-Rod came out completely focused after not even making the Finals in the first SLS contest in Brazil, putting on the smoothest of switch skating clinics, and it looked like this could be Paul’s day. Then along came Nyjah. This likable kid doesn’t need to prove anything; he’s done more at 18 than, well, anyone. But he always goes even further above and beyond expectations. His flow and trick difficulty once again could not be denied, closing his run with a backside 180 nosegrind down the Hubba.

Everyone seemed to be on one today, except Chris Cole who, unbelievably, twice fell on a little backside 180 kickflip—a trick Cole couldn’t even fall on in someone else’s sleep. He was eliminated. With the Flow Section in the books, Nyjah, Malto and P-Rod were the top three, in that order.

CONTROL SECTION

In the Control Section, only your Highest Trick Score (HST) counts, so this is where most street skaters get busy. Mikey Taylor announced himself by starting things off with a switch 270 to backside lipslide on the pyramid’s down rail for an 8.0. Unbelivably, Luan could not reproduce his switch frontside 360 heelflip, and T-Puds flailed over and over on a lipslide on the pyramid’s up-and-down rail, even after he stopped trying to throw it into 5-0 at the end.

Manny Santiago stepped up and started making noise with a 360 shove-it to lipslide on the rail (no, not impossible) and a dope frontside pop shove-it to feeble on the same rail. Malto delivered his backside noseblunt, but couldn’t stick a frontside crooked grind nollie flip to fakie on the bank to ledge.

Once again, Paul and Nyjah delivered the knock-outs. Paul dropped a switch backside lipslide on the rail, followed by a buttery switch kickflip backside lipslide on the same for a nearly-Nine Club score of 8.9. But for a bit of wheelbite, he also would’ve bagged a techy nollie crooks to nollie front foot flip out. Nyjah started off with a nollie backside 180 to switch backside 5-0 grind off the bump to Hubba. When that’s your first trick of the Control Section, how do you top that? With a kickflip frontside hurricane coming out straight on the arched rail.

If you watched practice and Prelims, you could probably guess what tricks most of these guys would go for. Leave it to Nyjah to pull a rabbit out of nowhere, a trick not yet seen in Barcelona, for the Finals’ only Nine Club score: 9.1. All that being said, Nyjah was only one tiny point ahead of P-Rod going into the Impact Section.

IMPACT SECTION

Despite a rain delay, the skaters were not getting iced or making excuses—the amp in the skaters was just too strong to be subdued. Once dry, once again it was on.

With the four highest-scoring makes of six counting, the Impact Section is about going after big scores, but requires skaters to be a bit safe and very consistent to get at least four tricks in the books. Before the contest started, I wrote a strongly-worded piece about how other skaters were choking in the Impact Section and basically forfeiting contests to Nyjah. Leave it to each of the SLS Pros in Barcelona’s Finals to prove me dead wrong (this time, at least). These skaters absolutely delivered in the clutch.

Luan, hoodied-up to keep the rain’s chill off, started off on the right foot with four makes: nollie crooks on the Hubba; kickflip noseslide (sketched landing for just a 3.9); his signature, perfect hardflip down the steps; and a massive frontside flip from the bumb over the Hubba that must be witnessed to be understood. To this over-opinionated writer, it looked bigger than the 8.5 it got, but Luan set himself up well, regardless.

Malto threw down his most consistent tricks—nollie frontside crooks and backside noseblunt on the Hubba—before getting the crowd on its feet with an amazing frontside pop shove-it to backside nosegrind (slightly crooked) on the Hubba for an 8.7. Unfortunately, he couldn’t back it up with a fourth score.

Manny, winner of the Select Series, is destined to be a Finals mainstay. He doesn’t hold back, and just sticks tough tricks. He jumped into first while the others played it safer with his first trick: a kickflip frontside Smith grind on the Hubba. It would be tough for him to top that, but he continued shutting the door on the other finalists, making a frontside pop shove-it backside 5-0, kickflip frontside 5-0, and nollie flip to backside 50-50 on the Hubba. The day’s underdog, Manny worked the crowd into a frenzy—including all the SLS pros on the sidelines (Sheckler, Koston, etc); Manny was getting more congratulatory high-fives than any other skater. No one seemed able to hold back their enthusiasm for Manny—and why would you want to? Dude just rips, amping one and all with his gap-toothed grin. Manny won that third place trophy.

IMPACT SECTION: P-Rod Vs Nyjah

Yes, Paul and Nyjah deserve their own section—no doubt, it was that good. Maybe Paul whispered something special into his hat, because even the skies cleared to shine the sun’s spotlight on this one.

Paul started punching out scores straightaway: a switch backside Smith grind on the Hubba (8.3) and two switch frontside bluntslides—one hand-drag sketched (3.3) and another perfected  (8.8). Nyjah responded with a kickflip frontside noseslide and a dope frontside 180 to switch crooked grind on the Hubba, before bailing on a 360 flip 5-0.

On his fourth attempt, Paul sketched his way out of another trick, putting his hands on the ground on a switch backside tailslide (4.2). Paul now had four scores on the books, and could turn the pressure up on Nyjah with his last two attempts.

Then Nyjah did him dirty. Immediately after Paul picked himself up from his bobbled switch back tail, Nyjah casually rolled in and one-upped him, doing a perfect switch back tail on the same Hubba for a 7.7. In skating, that is definitely shots fired—it’s not good etiquette to one-up someone at any skate session, let alone an internationlly-televised, standing-room-only-crowded contest. I didn’t see Nyjah glare back at Paul to make sure he saw (or put up his paws to say, “See, no hands!), but that’s the only way it could’ve been a more direct challenge. Nyjah got mental, and took the lead.

Paul was not phased, apparently, because he followed with a stunner switch kickflip backside 50-50 on the Hubba to match the highest score so far in the Impact Section: 8.8. Paul is back on top but Nyjah, yet again, responds with fire: a 360 flip 5-0 on the Hubba for a 9.1.

It’s all down to the last attempt. Paul can take the lead with his final make, or lose with a bail. P-Rod brings back the switch backside tailslide, lands clean, and gets an 8.4 to take the lead.

HOLD UP… WHAT THE…?!? Is this contest rigged?Already, the Impact Section didn’t feature any handrails, which seemed like a move to take away Nyjah’s dominance on the rails. Now Paul does the same trick as Nyjah, and both execute it flawlessly. Nyjah gets 7.7; Paul gets 8.4. How does that work, SLS judges? How was Paul’s exact same trick on the exact same spot worth .7 more? I’m calling B.S. on that T.S. P-Rod absolutely came through in the clutch, making his trick, and he deserves all credit and no blame. But c’mon, judges, that scoring decision against Nyjah was just foul.

Regardless of some extremely suspect judging, Nyjah has one last try. Because of Paul’s score, Nyjah now needs a tall-order 8.5 to win. Nyjah knows it, and the pressure is all on his last trick. Not only does he need to land something; it needs to be up in Nine Club territory. Nyjah then fumbles. He rolls up toward the Hubba, second-guesses himself, and steps off before trying the trick, narrowly averting a bail and giving himself a rebate. That’s never happened, and the pressure is clearly getting to him. He steps back, takes a minute to calm his nerves, then barges toward the Hubba with some serious speed. Anticipaton… Nyjah launches a HUGE hardflip off the bump, over the Hubba, and lands perfectly. Like whaaaat!!!???

The crowd goes nuclear; the SLS skaters jump out of their seats. The trick was so sick, even Paul’s arms spontaneously fly up in celebration—and it could be the trick that costs him the contest.

The score comes in: 8.5. Nyjah wins by .1. With the deck stacked against him, from the Impact Section’s design to the slanted judging, Nyjah came through on the very last trick of the contest. Nyjah overcame.

Best. Contest. Ever. —Tap Elanac

Live from Spain meant another early morning (5:30AM for West Coast watchers), but the drama was more jolting than a cup of, well, anything. The Prelims are a wrap and the eight qualifiers for Saturday’s Finals are locked. With a couple of unfortunate injuries and some last minute heroics along the way, the table is now set for another great showdown. Here’s what went down. —Mackenzie Eisenhour

HEAT 1

FLOW SECTION

Sean Malto kicked off the day’s festivities. Immediately, compared to yesterday’s Select Series, the level kicked up a notch as the cream of skateboarding’s proverbial crop had their way with Barcelona’s Gaudi-inspired masterpiece. Malto scored 6.7 with his opening run and never looked back. Eric Koston skated as a last minute stand-in for the injured Chaz Ortiz and showed he still has some bullets in the chamber with a crowd-wowing back tail front 180 out on the bank-to-ledge. Yesterday’s Select Series champ Manny Santiago picked up right where he left off, clocking a 7.6 on a flawless first run. Austyn Gillette looked like he was gearing up for a full-speed push to the Finals but suffered a run-ending heel bruise trying to kickflip the Hubba. Tom Asta had a solid showing, but a few bails.

IMPACT SECTION

Moving to the stair-jumper portion, Malto again set the bar high with a nollie front crooks straight out the gates for a 7.0. Koston made a bluntslide on the Hubba but bailed a couple other tricks. But it was Manny who continued his slaying spree. Of five attempts he stomped his trademark kickflip front 50 (4.9), kickflip crooks (7.5), front pop 50 (5.9), then out of nowhere front pop back 5-0 (7.9). Missing only his final attempt at a nollie flip 50, Manny jumped into first and would hold the top spot all the way till Heat 4. Malto grabbed a close second.

HEAT 2

FLOW SECTION

Heat two kicked of with Billy Marks and Tommy Sandoval both trying to make it back to the Finals; Billy missed the cut in Brazil and Tommy was finally back from injury. Sheckler meanwhile came out blasting—closing out his first run with a massive backside flip off the kicker down the stairs and notching an 8.5 in the process. Even though he scored lower with some falls in his second run, his half-Cab back Smith from the kicker to the Hubba was one of the best tricks of the day. Dylan Rieder, dressed in all black, also had an amazing bail-free run, closing out with a front board on the long up and down ledge for an 8.3.

IMPACT SECTION

Unfortunately the Impact Section proved the undoing of both Sheckler and Dylan. On Ryan’s fourth attempt, he actually landed a frontside half-Cab flip and somehow tweaked his ankle in the process of rolling away. He came back for his last try and put down a safety trick backside nosegrind while wincing in pain but it seemed obvious he either wouldn’t be able to skate, or simply wouldn’t qualify as the rest of the heats unfolded. Dylan had two solid first tricks—Front tail (5.5) and back Smith (4.3)—and actually could have placed himself nicely to qualify, but missed his remaining tries.

HEAT 3

FLOW SECTION

Chris Cole came out with a vengeance. Having failed to qualify for the Finals in Brazil (along with P-Rod and Sheckler), it appeared he was taking no chances in Spain. Bastien Salabanzi also came out swinging with a 7.6 on his first run. Win or not, Ishod Wair is just an awesome spectacle to behold and the crowd loved his original flow—taking his shirt off mid-run as an added bonus. Rounding it out, Mikey Taylor put together some sick switch combos and managed both runs around the 6.1 range while Peter Ramondetta had a couple of untimely bails that cost him.

IMPACT SECTION

Again, with no Control Section in the Prelims, the Impact Section served as judge, jury, and executioner. After making his second attempt at a half-Cab flip down the stairs, Bastien couldn’t bring home his staple backside flip—costing him a spot in the finals. On the rise, Cole and Mikey Taylor took charge. Mikey notched a no-joke switch bluntslide (6.8), nollie nosebluntslide (6.7), and a half-Cab crooks (7.0) to jump into third. Cole landed a switch 180 5-0 (5.4), kickflip front 50 (6.0), and an ollie over to bluntslide the other side of the Hubba (7.6), jumping up to fourth overall. Going into Heat 4, the top eight had Manny on top (28.9), Malto in second (26.8), Mikey Taylor in third (26.6), then Chris Cole (26.1), Billy Marks (25.7), Tom Asta (24.8), the wounded Sheckler (22.7), and Dylan riding the eighth spot (17.1).

HEAT 4

FLOW SECTION

It really all came down to Heat 4—I’d like to call it the Heavyweight Hitters Heat. Nyjah, Luan, O’Neill, Pudwill, and P-Rod would surely rock the standings. As it got going, the big questions on everybody’s mind: first, whether the novel course design (fewer handrails) would slow Nyjah; second, would Paul and Luan choke again in the Impact Section? Paul went first and handled business with a solid no bail run (6.9). It was Luan though, who really drew first blood. His first run mixed switch bigspin heels with a massive frontside flip over the pyramid ledge, and no bails, scoring an 8.0. On his heels, Nyjah proved he could mix it up—grabbing a 7.7 with a host of tricks we have rarely seen him pull out in SLS competitions.

IMPACT SECTION

Finally, the moment of truth. P-Rod started out safe-but-sturdy with a switch back 5-0 (6.3); Shane followed with a somewhat shifty’d switch flip (6.8); Torey made a back 360 ollie off the kicker down the stairs (6.7); Luan knocked out a nollie crooks (4.9). And Nyjah? He missed his first try at frontside 180 to switch crooks. Gasp. Had the tables finally turned? Paul then put on a switch-stance clinic on the Hubba: Switch back Smith (8.3), switch front blunt (8.8), and a switch back tail (8.2) for a victory lap launching him into first overall with a score of 32.2. Torey added a nollie flip down the stairs (6.8) and a nollie flip 50 down the Hubba (8.1) to jump to third. Shane got eliminated trying a back nollie heel down the stairs for three of his tries, while Luan landed a stunning frontside flip over the Hubba from the kicker (8.5). Nyjah recouped his first attempt miss with a back 180 nosegrind (5.9), kickflip front nose (7.1), then nollie crooks (4.3). But when Luan made his last try kickflip noseslide (6.2), Nyjah suddenly needed a 5.1 or better to stave off elimination. You could feel the tension mounting and see Nyjah hesitate as he realized his predicament; it seemed this might truly be the moment his invincibility ended. But with nerves of steel, Nyjah hammered home his front 180 switch crooks—the 7.6 score pushing him back into fourth and back into tomorrow’s final. Interviewed right afterwards, Nyjah admitted, “I had never even made that trick in a contest. Thank God I made it.”

Wow.

Tune in to ESPN on Saturday at 10AM EST to see Paul Rodriguez, Manny Santiago, Torey Pudwill, Nyjah Huston, Luan Oliveira, Sean Malto, Mikey Taylor, and Chris Cole compete for glory (and that $100,000 for first) in Barcelona.