The cold, rainy winter season finally seems to be over as we move into a glorious freestyle-filled springtime with plenty of contests, demos and jams yet to come. 2016 has seen an exciting start to the competitive freestyle scene with three contests already having taken place and a stellar professional debut for Isamu Yamamoto.
The number of freestyle video parts dropping has also increased exponentially from last winter, with plenty of incredible videos to keep us occupied on those dark rainy nights. We’ve put together the latest news from the first three months of the year, along with a couple of our video highlights, for your viewing pleasure.
Contest News
Big Rio Contest 2016
Freestyle skateboarding returned to Rio for the second annual ‘Big Rio Freestyle Contest’, welcoming the returning Gunter Mokulys and rookie pro Isamu Yamamoto along with many of the finest professional, amateur and master freestylers that Brazil has to offer.
Similarly to last year’s event, coverage of the event was a little sporadic but it wasn’t long before the tope two runs appeared online. In a closely fought battle, Isamu just edged out Gunter with a flawless run, with Brazilian champion Mattheus Navarro taking the third spot.
In the amateur contest, Kaue Aroujo took yet another contest victory, followed by another solid performance from Gustavo Kennedy and Diego Pires in third. The standard of the Brazilian amateur freestylers is truly spectacular, with the top three freestylers putting together runs worthy of a professional contest.
Beyond these results, there’s still very little we know about the contest. As it is not part of the established Brazilian freestyle contest scene, the Big Rio contest results are nowhere to be found online. We’ve put together everything we know so far at the link below but if you have the full results, please get in touch and let us know!
View full contest results here
Tsukuma Cup
At the beginning of March, the FS.com sponsored Tsukuma Cup took place in the car park of the Aeon Mall in Tsukuba. As the first major Japanese freestyle contest of the year, many of the country’s top freestylers turned up to the event which, despite low crowd turnout, saw some truly spectacular skating.
Fresh from his victory in Brazil, Isamu Yamamoto took the event by storm with yet another flawless run, taking his second consecutive professional contest win of the year. Japanese freestyling legends Masahiro and Toshiaki Fujii took second and third places respectively with stylish, technical routines.
The amateur contest was won by Masaki Kawamitsu with a stylish run with some unique footwork combinations, with Shinji Ode in second place and Yuta Fujii in third – rounding off a strong performance for the Fujii family! The amateur contest was won by Yui Kawamura and the beginner contest was won by Yuzuki Kawasaki.
View full contest results here
Megane Cup Vol. 5
Now into its fifth consecutive year, the Megane Cup has become a staple of the Japanese contest scene and has proven to be an ideal platform for up and coming freestylers to share their skills with the world.
Welcoming 28 freestylers in total, it was no surprise when Isamu Yamamoto turned up to defend his title; having won the Pro/Am contest for the last few years. Lori Fukuma took second with Mirei Tsuchida, who also won the Girls class,placing third. Kaito Takishita won the open class contest with the talented young Ikkei Nagao winning the kids class.
View full contest results here
Read Part 2 – General Freestyle News
Read Part 3 – Freestyle Video Highlights
What were your favourite freestyle moments this winter? What are you looking forward to in the next few months? Make sure to let us know on the LateTricks facebook page, or tweet us @Fslatetricks.
