Skateboard Street Pro Men Finals got heated in sunny Montpellier
What an incredible atmosphere in the warmth of this Friday afternoon! A massive crowd on both sides of the Lez, and a festive mood for the men's Skateboard street pro final. The format? Two 50-second runs per competitor (the best of the two runs counts), followed by five attempts at the two biggest tricks - that's how our judges will look at the technical riding displayed by our eight skateboarders coming from all around the globe!
With the contest kicking off with a great soundtrack, and in the presence of the mother of the late Kechaud Johnson, to whom a tribute will be paid tomorrow, the riders first battle each other through their runs. Peruvian Angelo Caro came out on top, setting the best score on his first run, and doing even better on his second, with a switch noseslide heelflip out as the exclamation mark. However, it was the best trick that made the difference, and unfortunately, Angelo fell short at this stage, finishing only 6th in the final standings.
On the podium was Argentina's Matias Dell Olio, whose performance was as clean as it was complete. He laced a bigger flip boardslide to fakie and a switch noseslide heelflip out for the best trick, taking third place. Second place went to the crowd's favorite, last year's winner Max Berguin from France. Very fluid, he performed an excellent second run on the park, and seemed very close to victory, first landing a nosegrind heelflip out, then a bigspin front blunt shove it out on the rail. The crowd believed in him all the way, but he unfortunately missed on his last attempt.
Indeed, in the provisional rankings, Ivan Monteiro had already taken control at this stage, offering the crowd one last trick for fun. His second run was almost perfect, all control and cleanliness with a nollie heelflip out on the wheelbarrow, and on his fourth attempt during best trick, it was quite simply a 360 flip noseslide 360 shove it on the ledge that brought the crowd to its feet and validated his well-deserved first place. A great victory for Ivan, and the perfect way to return to Los Angeles with a big smile on his face!
We've got plenty more smiles to share with you in Montpellier, so let's get on with the Skateboard Pro Women finals and tell you all about it!
