Skateboarding
Let's break down the what's what and the who's who of the most unique event in skateboarding.
DETROIT — Detroit is buzzing as a hoard of the world’s finest on four wheels have touched down and checked in for the third annual Red Bull Hart Lines. Hart Plaza has spent the last few weeks undergoing massive transformation and the updated Hart Lines course is now complete! From top to bottom, thehand-selected lineup of 23 international skaters will tackle boxes, rails, stairs and tranny with maxed speed on one of the most diverse courses in skate competition, bar none. With the main event just over a day away, we broke down the what’s what and who’s who, below.
Practice thus far
Today saw the first official day of practice hit the fresh course. That said, only a small handful of competitors made it to Detroit early enough to catch the session. The event’s visionary Ryan Sheckler was on hand, of course, sure to not miss out on the earliest opportunities to dial in his runs. Sheckler was forced to sit on the sidelines last year due to injury, so it’s no wonder he put in the long hours today. The Brazilian contingency of Felipe Gustavo, Leticia Bufoni and Kelvin Hoefler rolled in mid-afternoon and took the course by storm, each linking a handful of complete top to bottom runs. TJ Rogers stuck around all day, nailing one of the techiest course enders yet with a tricky crooked grind nollie lateflip out. Ryan Decenzo also made the trip a day early, fine-tuning a few banger runs on both lanes one and two, which brings up a good point …
The two lanes
Like last year, the course is comprised of two separate lanes. As the format goes, each competitor will get three runs — one in each lane, and a final run in the lane of their choosing. That said, today saw the vast majority of action go down in Lane 1, which boasts a comparatively user-friendly start. With the first day of practice in the books, it’s become clear that lane two will be the major dividing factor come Saturday, separating the good from the great.
Speaking of great …
The top four competitors returning from last year’s event are automatically qualified for the finals. That means reigning champ Nyjah Huston, last year’s third-place finisher Axel Cruysberghs, Decenzo, Chaz Ortiz and Rogers will get to skip the qualifying round. But it's worth noting that of the pre-qualified crew, only Rogers and Decenzo made it to Detroit in time for day 1 of practice. It’ll be interesting to see how the rest of the auto-qualifiers adjust to the newly updated course when Friday’s sessions kicks into gear with what promises to be a much more crowded course. While we’re talking about the course ...
The updated course
This year the course has undergone a number of notable tweaks. Most obvious? Simply put, the final feature has shrunk. Last year saw competitors throwing themselves off a massive nine-stair which, in all honestly, lead to more run breakdowns than banger finishes. With a smaller end feature, the potential for tech-heavy finishes has gone up exponentially. Bigger ain’t always better, and the crew on hand during practice today was psyched on the update, digging deeper into their bag-o-tricks to close out their high-speed runs.
So, what's it gonna take to win?
The formula remains the same — go fast, go big, don’t fall! Sounds easy enough, right?
Tune into Red Bull TV Saturday, May 13 at 3 p.m. EST to watch it all go down live!
