The CPH OPEN cruise ship headed back to dock yesterday with what is being touted as the best day of the week so far. Exclusive access to historic buildings, land speed record kick flips, an incredible park session, gladiatorial death races and a watery gap of doom were all on the line up for yesterday’s schedule.
The first stop of the day was at Copenhagen City Hall, surrounded by ancient statues and mosaic floors, skaters competing in the wedge to bench challenge were given plastic axel nut covers to help preserve the 300 year old tiles that got a proper working in the grandeur of this cavernous spot.
1.Luan Oliveira 2.Evan Smith 3.Madars Apse 4.Austyn Gillette 5.Peter Ramondetta
Straight outside and it was a case of another city centre shut down and of blatant flouting of Denmark’s strict road speed restrictions for the fastest flip trick comp. Mach 10 skills were given to Madars Apse with a speed of 37 KPH which is allegedly faster than that Usain Bolt between the 40 – 50 metre mark.
So on to the main event, the Finals at the CPH skatepark, newly updated for the event and looking every bit as fun as a world class skate facility should. Skaters that placed top 5 throughout the week were entered into jam format heats and a further top 5 went through to a super final. With such an illustrious line up it was hard to know when and where to look as pros dropped baggers in their lines and bypassed sensibilities in poached runs between heats.
Making the finals and becoming the talk of the comp was Oski, whose near faultless qualifying run of flow and spontaneity was only surpassed by his backside kickflip over the channel. Not being one to be left out of channel floating antics, Evan Smith lofted an insane ally-oop to disaster back revert over the same gap. The super finals fully belonged to Nyjah Huston though who redefines effortless tech, consistency and perfection every time he steps on a board.
Sometimes in skating you are not allowed to want to win, not so in the death race where friendships are left on the coat rack and it’s every man for himself to the finish line. One lap round the park through berms and hips and an ending wallie involved a mixture of speed, agility, luck and elbows. Kevin Baekkel’s steely gaze said he was after a win and snatched it on the second corner from Alex Olsen to pop corks later in the night. The final event was the ever-hectic Best Trick and to complete the nautical theme the good ship CPH Open came to it’s final resting place in a swimming pool behind the skatepark and conveniently in between 2 jump ramps. This watery leap of doom was too much for some but not for a handful of intrepid salty skate dogs, who, with a seeming disregard for the amount of water on every surface, totally smashed it.