SKATE COMPETITIONS

The Dew Tour World Championship of Skateboarding's park section has ended. Though there weren't too many surprises as to who made it into the finals, there were someupsets as to who made the podium and in what position. The divide in talent among the female competitors was a narrow margin and Vanessa Torres held on to take the victory. The men's finalist field was equally close and there were several contenders for that top spot on the podium. In the end, Ryan Sheckler was awarded first place narrowly out scoring Ryan Decenzo and Chris Cole. Full results and commentary after the jump.

Ladies first. To be perfectly honest, I was not all together impressed with the women competing in this contest. A few standouts aside, there seemed to be an atmosphere of apathy among the top female park skaters at this contest. Many women who fell during their runs seemed to give up prematurely afterwards. Two serious exceptions to that last statement were third place finisher, Alexis Sablone and second place finisher Lacey Baker. Sablone was both progressive and determined in her runs and a real pleasure to watch. Sablone was once a serious am on the rise with a spot on The Firm and the éS squads in the early '00s. She then disappeared from the limelight to pursue an architecture degree from Columbia University. Recently graduated, Sablone is back on the scene and still skating really well. Let's hope her determination and progression can breath some life in to the woman's field of play. Baker gets a mention for being one of the only ladies out there that I saw doing tech tricks and recovering quickly from beefy slams.

Women's World Champions. From left: Lacey Baker, Vanessa Torres and Alexis Sablone.


Woman's Podium
1. Vanessa Torres
2. Lacey Baker
3. Alexis Sablone

The men's park final was a packed house of serious rippers. Chris Cole, Chaz Ortiz, Ryan Decenzo, Ryan Sheckler, ,b>Dennis Busenitz, Peter Ramondetta, Greg Lutzka and Paul Rodriguez. Any one of those guys, on the right day, could be the winner of one of these comps. But beyond kudos for everyone who skated their heart out in the finals, the top three were well chosen by the judges.



My only contention is that the golden boy may have gotten a little more shine than the underdog in the final tally of points. Cole pulled some great stuff in his run and in the two jams he was judged on. Cole's crowd pleaser was a back 360 lip down the rail and his front blunt to fakie down the rail. Sheckler went big with massive backside 180s and a perfect kickflip back lip down the rail. However, the World Champion did fall several times during his run and in the jams. He was very impressive and clearly the crowd favorite but I tip my hat to second place finisher and rookie pro RyanDecenzo. In the final Decenzo unleashed a blizzard of switch tricks, tied the whole park together in runs and stayed on his board more than anyone else. Highlights from Decenzo's runs included nosebluntsliding the rail, switch bluntsliding the rail, switch 180 to Smith down the rail and a nollie backside noseblunt on the bump to bar.

Men's Podium
1. Ryan Sheckler
2. Ryan Decenzo
3. Chris Cole

The Dew is done. Vert finals have wrapped and the World Championship of Skateboarding for 2009 has come to a close. One thing I'll say about vert: a mainstream audience sure does love to see people fall from way up high. The "Oohs" and "Ahhs" heard when vert riders would go down were nearly as loud as the screams for Sheckler earlier in the day. Full Results and commentary after the jump.

The Women's finals were really just the Lyn-Z Adams Hawkins show. With Cara-Beth Burnside, Mimi Knoop and other women's notables notably absent, Lyn-Z's competition was a bunch of barely teenage girls, many of whom had trouble reaching the coping. For the first woman to land a kickflip indy in vert, the contest wasn't much competition. The highlight was watching Lyn-Z's valiant (yet ultimately unsuccessful) attempts to pull her first McTwist ever. With even Tony Hawk up on deck giving Lyn-Z tips, you know she's gonna pull it soon.


Women's Podium
1. Lyn-Z Adams Hawkins
2. Gaby Ponce
3. Karen Jones

Alex Perelson didn't light up the finals quite like he did at Maloof. But he still ripped.
The Men's vert final was a serious display of the tech moves that are really giving the field a shot in the arm. Pre-qualified riders, Bob Burnquist and Pierre Luc Gagnon put on quite a show, once again demonstrating why they're usually at the top of the podium.

Andy Mac had a flawless second run that earned big cheers from his hometown Boston crowd and a third place standing overall. PLG also had a perfect second run that included two 720s and a switch front heel. He hung on to earn second place.

But the story of the night was Bucky Lasek who had a flawless first run that included a signature eggplant 540 and a nollie frontside flip stalefish. Though he fell in both runs that followed, he still pulled enough tricks to seal the win.

Men's Podium
1. Bucky Lasek
2. Pierre Luc Gagnon
3. Andy MacDonald