Rimini Skateboarding Recap
By Chris Mitchell
Day
One (July 30, 2005)
Seventeen amazing skateboarders came out of the Italian woodwork for Saturday's
preliminaries. French rider Georges Agonkouin took third with a strong run
that included a crooked grind down the little hubba ledge and a backside mellon
transfer. Italian skater Daniel Cardone pulled an ollie transfer over the
big box and a frontside flip in the quarterpipe to take second. And first
place went to Fabio Sleiman of Sao Paulo Brazil who put together a solid run
with a 5-0 down the box ledge, a kickflip up the bank gap and a lipslide down
the shotgun rail. Head judge Owen Nieder was surprised and excited by the
level of skating in this tiny beach town. "It's deinitely the best skating
we've seen yet in Europe," he said.
Day Two (July 31, 2005)
Nobody expected Rimini, Italy to be a skateboard mecca, but the skateboard
field at the LG’s fifth stop was the best of the entire tour. The crowd
was frothing after watching
Mathias Ringstrom
and
Sandro Dias
do a set of gravity-defying
doubles runs, so when the skateboard park comp started, they were already
shouting for more.
Marco Lambertucci, who stood in fourth place after the prelims, pulled together a strong run with a frontside flip over the pyramid and a tailslide to fakie down the ledge. Federico Salini, who squeaked into the finals in tenth place, put together a really solid run that featured a backside 5-0 down the big ledge and the trick of the day: a frontside smith down the shotgun rail. His stylish skating was good enough to move him into fourth.The bronze medal went to Daniel Cardone, whose fast skating and big tricks impressed the judges. He nailed a varial heelflip over the pyramid and a series of airs over the box, but his skating wasn’t as solid as it had been in the prelims. Georges Agonkouin of Cagnes Sur Mer, France took the silver with an impressive array of tech tricks. He stuck a 50/50 down the shotgun rail and consistently nailed backside tailslides on the ledge and 360 flips over the pyramid.
And the gold medal went to Brazilian rider, Fabio Sleiman whose fast skating and stylish riding couldn’t be touched.
