Sandro
Dias
Brazil
·
Skateboarding
Date of birth | April 18, 1975 |
|---|---|
Birthplace | Santo André, São Paulo, Brazil |
Age | 50 |
Nationality | Brazil |
Career start | 1995 |
Disciplines | Skateboard Vert / Skateboard Park |
At just 11 years old, Sandro ‘Mineirinho’ Dias got his first skateboard. “Me and a childhood friend took his brother’s skateboard and put a car tyre on top. While one sat on the tyre, the other pushed down the ramp from the garage.”
Just a few years later Sandro had become Brazilian beginners’ champion in street and was soon competing as a pro in the world championships in Germany.
A fifth place in competition in São Paulo kick-started a string of successes as Sandro began collecting titles and medals in Brazil and abroad. An early standout moment came at the 2005 X Games, when Sandro made history by being the first person to perform a 900 in a competition.
2010 was another bumper year for Sandro with second-place finishes at X Games Asia and the Dew Tour in Boston. In 2011, he equalled his result at the X Games Asia and notched up impressive performances on the Dew Tour.
2012 brought still more success with Sandro taking first place at the Pernambuco Vert Pro and only just missing out on a podium finish at the X Games. 2013 and 2014 followed with more X Games and Dew Tour medals.
A knee operation in 2016 slowed him down for a short while but he soon returned to competition and continues to push the envelope when it comes to landing new tricks and performing incredible stunts.
Now dividing his time between creative I-can't-believe-he-did-that one-off feats that push the envelope of vert skating - such as 2019's Estaiadinha Bridge project which saw him ride a ramp 45m above the streets of São Paulo - and holding it down at events like the Red Bull Drop In Tour, Dias is both an icon and a role model for upcoming skaters.
That icon status went up another level in September 2025, when he broke two world records - for highest drop-in and fastest speed on a quarter pipe - during the Red Bull Building Drop project in Porto Alegre. The feat saw Dias drop in to a temporary ramp built on the side of the iconic 22-storey Centro Administrativo Fernando Ferrari building. Dias hit a speed of 103kph, skating from a height of 70m with a drop of 60m, which was measured from the lowest point of the ramp to the platform.
“It’s crazy to say, but I was super calm because I did so much training," Dias revealed in an exclusive interview. "I visualised doing that drop-in so many times. The thing I was paying most attention to was how to do the drop-in. At the biggest height, because it’s so long, I knew that my body would have to be super light before hitting the building ramp, then I needed to put pressure on my legs to stay on my board and have control.”
He may be a six-time vert world champion and have achieved an incredible amount in his long career, but we haven't seen the last of him yet.
At 50 years old Sandro Dias has totally rewritten the rules of vert skating
© Marcelo Maragni/Red Bull Content Pool
The final drop-in was set at 70m
© Marcelo Maragni/Red Bull Content Pool
Job done and two world records broken by the skating legend
© Joerg Mitter/Red Bull Content Pool
Nailing a Lien Air
© Helge Tscharn