Ryan Sheckler on top of world
As Ryan Sheckler was announced as the winner of the Dew Tour Skate Open park competition last night, the female-laden crowd at TD Garden erupted in exultation. It was a fitting conclusion to a weekend of Sheckler-mania in Boston.
Sheckler, the 19-year-old sensation who has a large female fan base thanks to his good looks and MTV show “Life of Ryan,” also captured the inaugural International Skateboarding Federation world championship with the victory.
“It’s cool,” Sheckler said of his accomplishments. “Like I said earlier, I’m not the world champion – that’s crazy, that’s crazy talk. These guys out here are absolutely amazing on a skateboard. . . . It’s anyone’s day. You come out and someone could be on, someone could be off. Today was my day.”
In the vert event, skate legend Bucky Lasek pulled off an eggplant variation called the McEgg at the end of his first run, putting him firmly in first for the rest of the competition.
The 36-year-old Lasek reveled in the notion that he’s at the very top of his game. “It’s an honor. I set my goals high today and I had fun reaching them,” Lasek said. “Just to know the amount of fans that showed up just for skateboarding, it’s seriously . . . a pretty good feeling.”
Boston native Andy Macdonald’s stellar second run put him in third place in the vert, one spot behind Pierre-Luc Gagnon.
“It means the world to me to come out and skate in front of my hometown and to be able to do well,” Macdonald said. “All these thousands of people were here to support skateboarding.”
Sheckler gave those people a thrill earlier but was pretty excited about the experience, too. “I totally didn’t think I won, but I guess I landed the tricks that I needed to land,” Sheckler said. “I’m very lucky, very blessed and I love skateboarding. I’ll never stop skateboarding, ever.”
Although the rest of the field included stars like Paul Rodriguez, Greg Lutzka and Chaz Ortiz, second place in the park event went to a relative unknown. Ryan Decenzo, 23, earned runner-up status after a first run that left everyone speechless.
“Oh my goodness, Decenzo,” gushed third-place finisher Chris Cole. “It was like he had no clue that it was worth as much as it was, so he just went and skated. I can’t believe the stuff he did.”
Jordan Hoffart won the Transworld Skateboarding Big Trick contest.
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- Rune Glifberg competes in the ‘vert prelims,’ at the Skateboarding World Championships at the TD Garden, Saturday.
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- Sixteen-year-old Leticia Bufoni of Brazil competes in the ‘women’s park final.’
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- Chaz Ortiz warms up for the ‘men’s park final.’
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- Ryan Sheckler warms up for the ‘men’s park final.’
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