The Colle Oppio park in which World Street Skateboarding Rome takes place this year (as, indeed, it did last) sits on a hill overlooking the actual Colosseum, wonder of the world, in one of the most spectacular urban vistas on the planet, full stop. You don’t get that in Huntington Beach, my friends, you don’t get that in Huntington Beach. The park is on a hillside which runs down to the Colosseum valley in central Rome, and sits atop what was once a vast urban villa known as the Domus Aurea (‘Golden House’) constructed by the Roman Emperor Nero after much of Rome city centre was ravaged by fire almost two thousand years ago. 

Ph: Jake Darwen

Now: you didn’t come here for a history lesson, and we are poorly placed to offer one- so let’s park that aspect of Roman life and zone in on another one which is making this such a great experience for all the skateboarders who have arrived here from near and far: the street life.Rome is one of the great street-life cities of the world because for 20 euros you can sit outside with a friend eating pizza the size of a cartwheel and two nice drinks with ice cubes that clink in the glass and watch the world go by in the same way the richest people in the city do. The city is instantly yours and you, part of it. That culture exists on every street. 

Ph: Jake Darwen

So for those two overlapping reasons this is a fantastic location in a fantastic city to hold a youth event like this, and the response has been according: 272 skaters entered WST Rome 2023 (81 women and 191 men), representing 58 nations of the earth including some of the lesser-known skateboarding nations such as Angola, Venezuela and Bahrain. Again, that is unique to the World Skateboarding Tour.

Ph: Jake Darwen

Of course, the sun helps. At the time of typing the city is sweltering- the kind of heat that wilts flowers and melts ice-creams faster than you can scoff them. With a new terrace built overlooking the practice plaza and serviced by a bar serving ice-cold drinks and fresh pizza, it has the ambience of a beach club. So, after a week here pitched up to get down on the Colle Oppio hillside, we found ourselves this Sunday with just 8 skaters left in each division. 

For ease of understanding we will run down both divisions from first place to eighth, and begin with the women, purely since they skated first.

Ph: Davide Biondani

Liz Akama

In an entire contest fairly riddled with storylines, Liz Akama’s was maybe the biggest of them all. While the 14-year old may not the biggest name in the Japanese national team, she is developing her trick repertoire year on year and qualified in first place from the Semi-Finals here in Rome. With a super-consistent trick range that includes Barley grinds, frontside bigspins and frontside 180’s to fakie nosegrind on hubba ledges, her tenacity and distinctive style have brought her to the attention of industry mainstays Flip Skateboards. Having lost the top spot in the course of the finals to Chloe Covell, she left it until the last trick of the entire event to frontside feeble to fakie her way into victory in a total nail-biter which brought the whole event to life.

Ph: Davide Biondani

Chloe Covell

As the only competitor in the women’s finals not from the skateboarding powerhouses of Japan (5 finalists here) or Brazil (2), Australia’s Chloe Covell is really punching above her weight in the international scene since her debut here last year (where she came 7th). With two full runs and the trick of the Women’s contest in her 50-50 kickflip out she seemed on course for the win until the last trick of the event. If she was disappointed she was magnanimaous about it- and everybody here can see how quickly she is progressing.

Ph: Davide Biondani

Yumeka Oda

The only woman to land a flip trick in the best trick section of WST Rome 2022 (kickflip frontside boardslide), Yumeka is one of the most progressive skaters in her division in terms of trick innovation.Capable of putting 7 tricks into a 45-second run- that’s around one every 6 seconds- she put down flip backside 50-50 on the hubba and flip front board in the long rail in her first 2 best trick attempts, which was enough for 3rd place even if her final 3 attempts (flip front feeble, which she has made before elsewhere) didn’t pan out.

Ph: Jake Darwen

Rayssa Leal

Having endured the Japanese onslaught from around the Tokyo 2021 era, Rayssa Leal had since returned to her role as dominator of the women’s division. Skating with a heavy wrist guard, the current pace-setter in Women’s Street had an uncharacteristically patchy first run leaving her 10 points off the podium and having to gamble on shutting down the best trick section. A heavy slam on a flip back tail attempt saw her sit out the next attempt and bag a back smith before returning unsuccessfully to retry the flip back tail which took her out previously on her last attempt. Just goes to show how little is guaranteed in something as difficult as skateboarding.

Ph: Davide Biondani

Miyu Ito

Although you might expect Japan’s female skateboardingarmada to be only about the established names and thesecond-generation youngsters coming up underneath them,spare some of your attention for Yamagata’s 16-year-old Miyu Ito.With one of the most full-on backside lipslides you will see in competitive skateboarding, she was comfortable and assured in the run section but only had her back lip opener and a front blunt to choose from as best tricks. With a little more luck she may overtake some of the breakout stars of the Tokyo Olympics to become the next big thing from her skateboarding nation.

Ph: Davide Biondani

Aoi Uemura

Although not yet well known outside her native Japan, 14-year old Aoi endeared herself to the Rome crowd throughout the week first by shaking off a hefty practice slam in the Semi’s to book her place in the finals tonight and then slamming again just at the start of the best trick contest.Most, myself included, had assumed she was done for the day- but she returned to the fray to a hero’s salute and went on to stick a heelflip front board to rapturous applause. Remarkable, really- she also has the strongest trouser game in skateboarding today.

Ph: Davide Biondani

Gabi Mazetto

Young mother Gabi Mazetto is a favourite not just of the aways-rowdy Latin American contingent here but with her competitors as well. Strong and athletic, the Brazilian has real star quality and a gymnastic ability to save herself from slams. With backside smithgrinds on hubbas and frontside feeblegrinds along the big rail on lock, she is the fastest and most powerful skater in her division by some distance and a joy to watch. Even her post- time benihana attempts speak to her exuberance and skate credentials.

Ph: Davide Biondani

Momiji Nishiya

The current Olympic Women’s Street Gold medalist has both broadened her trick repertoire and now has a more solid pop and flick than the rest of her field. Momiji not only took second place here at World Street Skateboarding Rome last summer, but also landed herself the bronze medal in February’s World Championships in Sharjah, UAE- a run of three podium placements in her last three World Skate events under her belt coming into this week’s contest in Rome. With new tricks like Suski grinds on the hubba and more overall strength than last year, she is good enough to go pro for any team in the world today, aged 15. No question. Having put in a first run easily good enough not to need the second, she elected to throw caution to the wind early in the best trick by attempting a bigspin frontside boardslide right out of the gate- but having been unlucky twice she was left trying crooked grind nollie heelflip out on the hubba twice. This is a trick which has never been done before by her in a contest, and down the leaderboard she slipped having only posted a single best trick (frontside feeble).

Next up, it was the turn of the men. By this time, the sun had set on the city and the floodlights illuminated the whole shootout in front of a full house.

Ph: Davide Biondani

Nyjah Huston

If you think that the Japanese women are ripping at a young age, it is worth reflecting that Nyjah Huston was on the cover of Slap magazine aged 10. Since we last saw him win here in Rome last year he has been out of action with the professional skateboarder’s least-desired injury, a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in the back of the knee. However, as we mentioned last night, anybody who thinks that the first 8 months off his board in his entire adult life has affected either his consistency or ability is in for a rude awakening. The foremost skater of the modern competitive era- and his peers’ biggest bogeyman- is back in a big way.

Ph: Jake Darwen

Sora Shirai

A pioneer in a genre which at this point is already well explored in terms of possibility, the sublimely talented Japanese technician Sora Shirai has made his signature from making tricks as difficult as possible for himself by caballerial-ing into everything and alley-ooping ollies into grinds.Naturally, being on the frontier of possibility means consistency is an issue but he is firing on all cylinders right now. So much so, in fact, that he is even trying alley-oop transfer grinds on the course hubba, meaning he is over-rotating to then land on the opposite edge from the one he takes off over, which has never been considered in the history of competitive skateboarding, much less attempted. A genuinely visionary talent, he surprisingly had no full runs for the first time that weekend- but two best tricks in the 90’s saw him good for silver.

Ph: Davide Biondani

Kelvin Hoefler

Kelvin Hoefler has made a career out of defying the odds and bouncing back from hard slams. Elegant for a powerful frame, he has the perfectly balanced ability to pop big and look good doing it.Given his veteran status as a more or less constant figure on the international contest circuit he continues to surprise with new tricks and a laser-like focus on his contest strategy, being unafraid to cancel made best tricks he thinks he can do better later. Takes a lot of self-belief to do that and then deliver. Took advantage of solid run scores to only need his two makes (half-cab back smith revert and half-cab nosegrind revert) in best trick to take a solid 3rd.

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Ph: Davide Biondani

Gustavo Ribeiro

With his entire family present here in Rome to see him progress as far as he can, the Portuguese gentleman is looking, if anything, crisper and more dialled-in than a year ago and clearly working on his trick variety. He has crooked grind to nollie flip on lock and made 360 flip nose blunt nollie flip out in practice. For a skateboarder who maintains that he loves pressure, it seems to tell on him more than some of the others- but in varying his preferred moves for best trick choices he has shown more consistency across more bangers over more time than anyone else out there save possibly Nyah Huston himself.

Ph: Davide Biondani

Felipe Gustavo

Leading the fightback against the new generation, Felipe Gustavo came into Rome 2023 lying 48th in the rankings but looks sharper than ever, remarkably. While he may not have the show-stopping send ability of, say, a Giraud or Vianna, he is skating with a cleanliness and precision few can match and has been both ridiculously productive and consistent over the last year. As with others who carried through imperfect run scores, he left himself needing 90’s and above which he duly delivered in the form of a nollie flip to frontside noseslide and a switch flip nosegrind on the hubba for 5th place.

Ph: Davide Biondani

Jagger Eaton

The fascinating thing about Jagger Eaton is that in some respects he is competing against himself. He is the only skater to compete in both Olympic disciplines in the World Skateboarding Tour and having been raised at his parents’ KTR skatepark in Arizona he has an all-round ability and consistency few can even get close to. However, with that said, he has struggled to reproduce that form over the last few months and progressed from the quarterfinals in 11th place before needing 90’s from his only two best trick makes to arrive in the finals. The finals saw him repeat the challenge by needing a backside flip to fakie nosegrind and a switch nosebluntslide on his last 2 tricks to make 6th.

Ph: Davide Biondani

Cordano Russell

The 18-year old representing Canada came out of swinging to barge his way into these finals, both grinding up the hubba ledge and fakie 50-50ing back down it. Tall and powerful, he is also 360 flipping to frontside 50-50 with real consistency and had a couple of wild secret moves for the best trick section- nollie 360 shove it to backside boardslide being but one example. Plenty of time to progress and already in possession of more pop than most.

Ph: Davide Biondani

Aurelien Giraud

The 2022 World Champion qualified for the finals in first place and is smashing his way into becoming an all-time great with big clean power moves that set him apart from the pack. Having been faultless in the Semi’s, his desire to push the possibilities of scale in skateboarding to the absolute limits came unstuck for him come best trick time tonight. Nonetheless, he is great box office for the activity, goes bigger than anyone bar Chris Joslin and with the biggest 360 flip in the world today, best believe he will be back on top soonest.

We hope to see you all in Lausanne this September, as the World Skateboarding Tour continues!