Rune Wins European Skateboard Championships!
by: Mike Matz | Monday, August 30, 2004
August 21-22
Basel, Switzerland
The results are in for the fourth edition of the etnies European Skateboard Championships presented by Carhartt this past weekend in Basel, Switzerland. The streets were packed with hundreds of talented skateboarders from throughout Europe, all eager to compete and find a place in the Finals in the ice-rink-turned-street-course known as Kunschti. 378 competitors from over 20 nations competed in three disciplines.With 200 tons of material used to construct the course and 140 volunteers to help out, the arena took just one week to build with a four-day breakdown.
Nothing could beat the smooth style of etnies Rune Glifberg (Denmark), who became the 2004 European Vert Champion. RuneҒs winning run consisted of frontside heelflip Indys, tweaked 540s and switch kickflips. 2nd place went to Terrence Bougdour (France), with his frontside 540s. etnies European rider Jrgen Horrwarth (Germany) placed 3rd with nice, fluid runs containing a variety of lip tricks and airs. In addition, Jrgen won Best Trick with a 720.
etnies European rider Oli B켼rgin (Switzerland) retained the title of European Mini-Ramp / Bowl champion for the third time, with huge transfers from the mini-ramp to the bowl, switch stalefish transfers, frontside airs and solid technical lines both regular and switch. Close behind, the much talked about 16-year-old Fredrik Austbo (Norway) took 2nd place with his huge frontside airs and smooth lines.
The Street Final winners were Danny Wainwright (UK) placing 1st, Dominik Dietrich (Austria) and Dany Hamard (France) taking 2nd and 3rd, respectively. Sixteen girls competed in two 45-second runs for six spots in the Girls' Jam. 1st place went to Ianire Elorriaga (Spain), German rider Steffi Weiss placed 2nd and Sabrina Goggel (also Germany) made it to 3rd.
Many thanks to etnies and Carhartt, who made the weekend possible, as well as Mountain Dew, Element, Eastpak, Suzuki and the City of Basel.
Full results, pictures and daily reports are available at www.skateboardeurope.com.
The etnies European Championships are qualifiers for the World Cup Skateboarding events. More info available at: www.wcsk8.com.
Press info:
For more information and photos, please contact:
Monika Bocian
Phone: +49 30 265 570 11
Email: monika.bocian@skateboardeurope.com
Bastien + Rune Grab Bronze At X Games!
by: Mike Matz | Wednesday, August 11, 2004
Bastien Salabanzi and Rune Glifberg placed 3rd at the X Games in Street and Vert, respectively! The event started off with a bang (as loud as a shotgun going off next to your ear) on Thursday, August 5 in beautiful Los Angeles, California with the Street and Vert contests. Street was up first (featuring a legit street set-up, even), and Bastien destroyed the place, as usual. 
Some of the highlights: a frontside 270 to front board and a big spin flip to front board down the nine-stair rail, a backside flip, a big flip, and a Cab flip over the bush gap, a half-Cab flip and a backside flip down the four-flat-four, and loads of other stuff. Basically, too many tricks to name!
The Vert contest was held right after Street. As usual, Rune was breaking it off throughout all of practice, so anticipation was high for his smooth destruction of the massive vert ramp. Runes first run was flawless: heelflip frontside airs, back-to-back 540s, kickflip Indys and stylish backside tailslides were all in order. He even finished it off with a switch flip as time expired! Check out RuneҒs 3rd place run, as well as highlights from Bastiens 3rd place finish. Congratulations to both Bastien and Rune!
In more X Games news, Ryan Sheckler and Arto Saari were both there, as well. Ryan skated in the contest as Arto lurked about checking out the action. Ryan wasnҒt able to defend his title from the previous year, but he did throw it down with the rest of em, vying for the $50,000 1st place prize money. When the smoke cleared after a long day of skating (five hours in all, including practice), Ryan ended up in 9th place! Arto signed some autographs for the fans in attendance.
In other Sheckler business, Ryan leaves with Almost Skateboards this Friday, August 13 for a couple of weeks on Thrasher magazineҒs King of the Road II. Not sure if you remember the action from last year (see the January 2004 issue of Thrasher), but its basically a two-week road trip across the good Ғol USofA, with all kinds of missions and whatnots to be accomplished. More updates to come as the tour begins and progresses.
Stefan Janoski is in on the road at the moment, shooting photos and touring around the country of South Africa. No word yet as to how the trip is coming along, but as soon as we hear from him, well be sure to let you know the details. It must be going good if we havenҒt heard from him in a week.
Etnies Skate Pros On ESPN X Games Tonight!
by: Mike Matz | Friday, August 6, 2004
If you werent able to make it to Los Angeles for the X Games to see Bastien Salabanzi, Ryan Sheckler and Rune Glifberg skate, ESPNҒs SportCenter will be airing the Skateboard Street Mens Finals tonight, Friday, August 6, between 9:00 p.m Җ 12:00 a.m! Be sure to tune in!
Quick Picks Update!
by: Mike Matz | Thursday, August 5, 2004
In the latest Quick Pick, we asked you what etnies should buy for Stefan Janoski's birthday. You, the birthday gift selectors, chose for us to pay Stefan's utility bills for one month. Well, that is precisely what hes going to get.
When Stefan found out about what he was receiving for his birthday from etnies, he asked, "etnies is going to pay my house payment for a month?" Our reply was, "No, just your bills...you know, electricity, gas, water, etc. We aren't that generous!"
Although it doesn't add up to a house payment, Stefan was still appreciative, and wanted to thank all of you who participated. Stefan just left for Africa on Monday night, so you'll have to wait for his return later this month to see the proof of etnies paying his bills.
A new Quick Pick is up right now, so get your arse back to the etnies homepage and pick which trick you think Rune Glifberg should learn next on vert! Maybe he'll take your pick seriously and work on that trick next. Just vote and see!