In a week of new horizons being realised for international skateboarding in Brazil, none was more significant than the STU Adaptive Skateboarding Global Cup which held both Street and Park Championships during our occasionally chaotic week in Brazil at the start of March.
The ASGC was organised by STU as a demonstration showcase in conjunction with World Skate as part of our São Paulo World Championships, with a view to developing a long-term Adaptive component to World Skate’s global event schedules.
Ph: Poissonnier
A slightly weather-condensed week meant that we all had to be responsive to windows of opportunity in which to roll out, but everyone was very understanding in that regard- and none more so than the sixteen ASGC entrants, representing not only Brazil but South Africa, Argentina and the USA as well.
Interestingly, nobody entered both disciplines so there were separate individual fields for each.
The 45-second-Run format contests (two for Street and three for Park) were adjudicated by our relevant World Skate judging panels in place for the WST events which formed the remainder of the action over those days in early March.
Ph: Landi
The best-established name in the game today is of course Curitiba’s Felipe Nunes, who perhaps unsurprisingly led at the end of Run 1, but needed to improve on his first complete Run to hold off a spirited challenge by Kaue Augusto who would otherwise have won. Just a smidgen over 2 points separated the top two Brazilians, while completing a podium sweep for the host nation David Soares held on to his Run 1 score of 80.29 for bronze.
Ph: Poissonnier
If Street was close at the top, then in Park we saw domination from the start. If Felipe Nunes is the best-known adaptive skateboarder in the world today, then the next-most would surely be Italo Romano, who also hails from Curitiba. Despite lying in last place by some distance at the end of Run 1, Italo’s second run was enough to put him into medal contention with only Jota Ribeiro in a position to depose him and needing a six-point improvement to do so.
Ph: Poissonnier
Pipping Italo for silver on that all-important Run 2, however, came the man who in the end was all that prevented a Brazilian clean-sweep of both podiums: South Africa’s Robert Glover. Praised by Park Head Judge Renton Millar for his powerful, flowy style, Robert was one of only two entrants to break the 80-point ceiling.
The other did considerably more.
We first met Vinicios ‘Vini’ Sardi at the start of the World Championship week at São Paulo City Hall in his role as President of the Brazilian Paraskate Association where it became clear just how passionate a skateboarder he is. In truth, Vini dominated Park from his first Run, mixing flip tricks with inverts and more variety and total use of the space than anyone else could match. Even his lowest-scoring of each completed Run would have been enough for gold, but he just kept getting better- including and final-run 92.02 at which point the expression on his face told you he knew he had fulfilled something important to himself. He was well stoked, and justifiably so.
Back in the City Hall at the start of the week, Vini told the assembled media “Paraskate shows people with disabilities in a different light”; on the basis of collective performance, I don’t think anybody who witnessed this STU Adaptive Skateboarding Global Cup would argue with that.
