Way back in March 2016, we picked out five incredible up and coming freestylers who had showed real promise in 2015 and that we felt would be worth watching out for over the coming year. Each of these freestylers would continue to better themselves and keep pushing their abilities, growing in their own unique way.
Now, we take a look back at what 2016 brought for these freestylers and more we can expect to see from them in the future.
Boris Staver
Boris burst onto the freestyle scene in 2015, quickly building up an impressive arsenal of tricks and putting together a solid performance at his first contest at Paderborn. 2016 started strongly for Boris, as he joined Marius Constantin and Alexandru Lilea on the Nose and Tail Skateshop team. In July, Boris returned to Paderborn, battling the heat and landing some seriously impressive high-risk contest tricks. Though his run only placed 10th, there were many who felt it should have been higher and Boris undoubtedly remains one to look out for in this year’s contests.
Dan Garb
Dan continued his Instagram domination throughout 2016, dropping a multitude of heavy technical combos, many of which have not been done before or since, with his epic coco wheelie video reaching hundreds of thousands of viewers. Making the trip out to Vancouver, Dan made it to the finals in the World Round Up, earning 18th place and landing some of the biggest tricks of the weekend.
Gustavo Kennedy
Gustavo continued to progress throughout 2016, frequently sharing footage from his latest sessions on the F-Forum on Facebook and building up an expansive range of tricks. Gustavo only competed in one competition in 2016; the Big Rio Freestyle Contest. Putting together three smooth, solid runs, Gustavo earned a well-deserved 2nd place.
Ikkei Nagao
One of Japan’s many up and coming wonderkids, Ikkei Nagao has developed his own unique style, landing some incredibly technical tricks freestylers twice his age could only dream of! Amongst his many achievements in 2016, Ikkei blasted out a stunning 720 bigspin, earned 4th place in the Tsukuma Cup High Class Amateur division, 3rd place in the Megane Cup Open Class and 2nd in the Tsukuma Cup 2 High Class Amateur division.
Daniel Adam
In 2015, Daniel Adam was a fresh face in the freestyle scene, entering contests in Germany and Holland and taking last place in both. Daniel has since developed an incredibly amount in a short space of time, retaining his smooth, classic style but developing a wider range of tricks and improving his consistency significantly. Returning to Paderborn, Daniel put together two almost flawless routines to rightfully earn first place, sharing the honour with the equally spectacular Kaue Araujo. Going into 2017, we look forward to seeing Daniel progress even further.
It has been fantastic to follow the development of these five up and coming freestylers throughout the year and we’re excited to see what 2017 will bring for them. Keep posted to LateTricks for our Ones to Watch in 2017 and stay up to date with the latest freestyle news on our Facebook page.