Rune Grabs Gravity Games Gold!
by: Mike Matz | Tuesday, September 21, 2004
What a windy weekend it was for the Gravity Games in Cleveland, Ohio on September 19, 2004! With high winds forcing Prelims to be cancelled and the Finals to be postponed, etnies' Rune Glifberg went ahead and nabbed the Vert Gold anyway--despite being blown off the edge of the ramp during warm-ups! In fact, skateboards and chairs were blowing all over the place due to the winds, causing skaters to loose their boards in mid-air. The blustery conditions forced the contest to be delayed until it couldn't be delayed any longer.
Last year's silver medalist, Rune Glifberg, possibly the most frustrated of all--especially after being blown off the edge of the ramp an onto a chair--pulled it together minutes before the contest resumed. Rune's first flawless run of the day consisted of a mix of switch tricks, including a frontside heelflip and lien to tail. His score of 89.4 was enough to hold off Andy Macdonald and Pierre Luc Gagnon to claim the top spot.
Congratulations to Rune on winning another gold medal!
Gravity Games Results
1. Rune Glifberg (etnies)
2. Andy MacDonald
3. Pierre Luc Gagnon
4. Bucky Lasek
5. Lincoln Ueda (etnies)
etnies Riders Sweep Gravity Games!
by: Mike Matz | Monday, September 20, 2004
etnies swept the Gravity Games over the weekend in Cleveland, Ohio, as six of our riders took home trophies and cash in every event! Rune Glifberg stormed the Vert contest, easily claiming another 1st place spot, while high flyer Lincoln Ueda landed in 5th. etnies Girl rippers Elissa Steamer and Lauren Perkins grabbed 1st and 2nd respectively in Women's Street, while Ryan Sheckler and Fabrizio Santos earned 3rd and 12th respectively in Men's Street. Congratulations to all of our etnies riders for dominating the Gravity Games. More details coming soon!
Fredrik Austbo Wins Third 2004 etnies Open + Best Overall
by: Mike Matz | Thursday, September 16, 2004
Once again, the young gun from Norway, etnies 16-year-old phenom Fredrik Austbo, tore into 1st place at last weekendҒs etnies European Open in Rome, Italy. Fredrik is the first ever to win all three etnies Opens, so it came as no surprise when he was awarded the title of Best Overall European Skateboarder for 2004.
Over 70 of the best skateboarders from 15 nations turned up to compete in the last event of the year, held by the beach in Lido di Ostia. The amazing crowd of 3,000 went nuts for Fredrik, as he skated a powerful first place run containing 360 flips, backside lipslides and frontside bluntsides. Second place went to 16-year-old Rougier Gauthier (France), and Fabian Neugebauer (Germany) nabbed 3rd for his nice 360 flips.
In the Girls Jam, Klara Kasparova (Czech Republic) took 1st with her 50/50 grinds, while Steffi Weiss (Germany) placed 2nd doing nollie heel flips. Sabrina GҶggel (Germany) took 3rd, as well as the Girls Best Overall prize for 2004.
The Best Trick went to Daniel Cardone for his ollie transfer to nose blunt slide on the mini hubba.
Many thanks to etnies, WE clothing, Eastpak, Nixon and the wonderful staff from The Spot Skatepark, who fulfilled our dreams of a perfect weekend full of skateboarding!
Hope to see you in 2005!
For further information and photos, please contact:
Monika Bocian
E-mail: monika.bocian@skateboardeurope.com
Phone: +49 30 265 570 11
www.skateboardeurope.com
etnies Skate Team Report 09-03-04
by: Mike Matz | Friday, September 3, 2004
Ryan Sheckler just got back from the second Thrasher King of the Road trip. If you saw the coverage and the video from last year, you know what kind of carnage went down--especially if you are on the tour with the Almost team. I havent heard all of the details yet, but Ryan did return from the trip Saturday and had to go to school straight away on Monday. Yep, one day home, then straight to school! Ryan will now not only be concentrating on his studies, but also on all the high school girls, as well! Check back for more updates, as this kid has quite a schedule ahead of him.
Rune Glifberg has been back in Copenhagen, Denmark after winning the Vert contest at the etnies European Skateboard Championships in Basel, Switzerland a couple of weeks back. (Check the photo. Everyone wants a piece of Rune!) Just before that, he shot an interview for a German magazine called Limited, and is now getting started on an interview for the European magazine, Kingpin. Rune only has a short time to get the Kingpin interview done, as he must return to the States in a couple weeks for the Gravity Games in Cleveland, Ohio; the Triple Crown Finals in Huntington Beach, California and the West 49 World Cup contest in Toronto, Canada. No problem, though, as Rune regularly bangs out photos and could probably finish an interview in one day if he had to. As you may or may not know (depending on whether you read the News here regularly), RuneҒs second daughter was born on July 4, and we are happy to report she is doing well and is perfectly healthy!
Stefan Janoski has been in Sacramento skating each and every day. Apparently, the weather hasnt been too harsh҅good climate for skating. Hell be heading down to SoCal next week to hang out at the etnies offices for a bit before heading down to San Diego to check out the ASR trade show and partake in the ҩS Game of SKATE slated for Saturday, September 11. Yeah, Stefans got flat skills a-plenty--not to mention that $10,000 is on the line!
Arto Saari and Bastien Salabanzi are both in Huntington Beach and have been for quite a while now. Both of them have been spending quite a bit of time with their skibarros (guitars, in Arto lingo). I canҒt believe how quickly Bastien is picking up the guitar, and after only playing a few months. Hes out of control! Arto has been working on playing Johnny Cash songs lately.
ItҒs been mentioned in the past here in the News, but it must be mentioned again: Everyone that has been asked about how they like the etnies Arto shoe has basically replied that its the best skateboard shoe ever made. I havenҒt heard a negative response yet. Buy a pair today!