As we did in Shanghai a little under a month ago, let’s take a step back from the action at this juncture to turn our attention to the skate spaces which form the centrepieces of OQS Budapest. It is interesting to note the aspects of designed-in difficulty which both feature.
The Park FOP (Field Of Play) contains not one but two volcano structures in the middle, one of which mimics a conic volcano in that what is normally the top is in fact a lipped basin. The second has a kind of sundial feature which creates a high and low side, the potential lines around which were only just being explored during the previous few days of practice.
Pedro Barros, stalefish. Ph: Haruta
(Alternative name suggestions from the crew for the sundial feature so far have included: The Fishmouth, Clog, Fatlip, The Cabriolet, Suicidal Tendencies Cap and Raclette Cheese. Truly, some great minds are evidently at work here).
The Street FOP features the first double-kinked handrail which we have come across on the Road To Paris, as well as two countersunk driveways which mean you either clear the entire platform bank to bank, or you are going down. Zero margin for coming up short, there.
Liz Akama, back smith. Ph: Haruta
The relatively small Park footprint (compared to say Sharjah or San Juan) seems so far to be favouring the skateboarders who can make super-quick adjustments and get out of unanticipated situations with a quick liptrick. Certainly, nobody had it totally dialled straight away and first day’s practice saw a couple of nervy slams as people established what works and what doesn’t in terms of lines and combinations. By way of illustration: in Men's Prelims, nobody completed three full runs; master blaster Pedro Barros found himself unable to proceed, and Keefer Wilson split his chin open on a painful-looking slam but should be able to skate Semifinals tomorrow given tonight to recuperate- fingers crossed.
Ph: Bartok
Remarkably, though- and this is doubtless down to the fact that it is only the top 44 per category skating here- suddenly you notice that after two days of getting familiar with this new terrain, the building blocks of individual runs begin to assemble themselves into something closer to 45 seconds of connected radness.
Ph: Bartok
Now, it is possible that you might see that level of adaptability in something like golf, for example- but golfers aren’t risking their lives every time they tee off. That pace of adaptability must be one of the hallmarks of skateboarding greatness.
48 hours ago, everybody was making their first tentative stabs at each obstacle. Now, after only a few hours of instinctive calculations and some hotel room-based strategising, battle was ready to be joined as if they had all been here for weeks. In Women's Street today, that strategising brought out one huge team result: if I were to ask you which nation was sending most women through to the Semifinals after the ever-dominant Japanese (6), who would you say that nation was? USA? Australia? Nope: China (3) where they are joined by a pair each of Australians and Americans as well as Dutch dominator Roos Zwetsloot, 12-year-old Thai newcomer Vareeraya Sukasem and the ever-improving Colombian Jazmin Alvarez.
So: we now know all our Semifinalists for OQS Budapest this weekend: follow the action live on Olympics.com and stay abreast of updates in real time by following @worldskatesb across your preferred social media platforms!