Saturday 29th of June 2019
Red Bull Roller Coaster 2019: Alana Smith & Jake Ilardi reign supreme
Take eleven of the world’s best skateboarders, a unique course unlike anything else and an amazing location, shake well and serve it to an incredible crowd – and you’re in for a skate-spectacle extraordinaire! This is the successful recipe that once again made Red Bull Roller Coaster a one-of-a-kind skateboard contest that drew thousands of cheerful spectators to the green terraces of Munich’s Olympic Park. In fact, you were lucky if you managed to get a free spot on the grass because this year’s finals of Red Bull Roller Coaster were one of the definite highlights of MASH again and the crowd was well aware of that. Yesterday’s international qualifiers already set the bar high, but the intensity and the vibe of today’s finals topped everything one might have expected. In the end, it was reigning champ Jake Ilardi (USA) and – celebrating her return to competing professionally – Alana Smith (USA) who proved themselves to be true allrounders on the shred sled and rightfully took the title of “Most versatile skateboarder in the world”.
The ladies were the first to start with their first run of three on this most beautiful Bavarian Saturday afternoon. Alana Smith had already dominated the international qualifiers on Friday and was more than hyped to place first in the finals of a skateboard contest after taking a longer break from competing professionally: “Literally, this win means more to me than anything, only because it’s been two-and-a-half years and I did take a break for quite a while, so I could not explain to you how happy I am to just be able to skate again with all my friends!” Alana had no problem to channel her excitement into an amazing first run: Starting off powerful with a 50-50 on the Cliffhanger Rail, she landed her signature kickflip disaster on the Speedy Spine perfectly and continued with a strong run that she ended with a big indy over the Wipeout Watergap. Her fellow contestants Jordyn Barratt (USA) and Catherine Marquis (GER) were not able to take the first place from her as Alana obviously felt really comfortable on the Red Bull Roller Coaster: “I thought it was incredible! I really enjoyed the mix between street and park and the fact that we did get to skate with all the guys. Of course it’s fun to skate with the girls, too, but when you actually get to mix it up with everybody we all have a blast! I’m so hyped and so excited – this contest is more than I could ever ask for.”
In the men’s finals, last year’s winner Jake Ilardi put the pedal to the metal and went all-in with two unbelievable runs. He had placed second in the qualifiers and knew that he would have to give it all if he wanted to stand on the podium again. As soon as he put his board down for his first run, Jake was in his zone: “On the first run, I was just thinking, from seeing everyone skate, that I had to bring the hammer down – go full throttle all the way, all gas, no brakes.” His consistency and outstanding skills of skating street and park as well transformed into a breathtaking stay-on run that earned him 89.66 points on the first go. But Jake was not done yet: Knowing that his fellow competitors would try everything to take the crown from him, he pushed himself even more for his second run. Landing a huge caballerial heelflip indy on the Rapid Rainbow, Jake had only a few moments to set himself up for the Rattlesnake Rail which he shut down with a tailslide to fakie, only to nail a perfect and incredibly hard halfcab frontblunt on the Topspin Corner seconds later. Shooting into the final section of the Red Bull Roller Coaster in top gear, he polished the Hair Raiser Rail with a frontside lipslide and blasted out his signature 540 on the Highstriker Quarter. The judges rewarded Jake with 90.66 points for this hellride and none of the other competitors could touch his score in the final run despite the hardest efforts.
But skateboarding is not solely about competing – above all it’s about having fun. And Jaime Mateu (ESP) perfectly incorporated that credo. Although his final run was long over and he had no chance of touching Jake’s score, he threw himself down the extension of the Highstriker Quarter with an audacious nollie blindside 180 into the transition which he took three hard slams for to finally land; all for the roaring crowd that Jaime lovingly called “his favorite part of the whole contest”. Same goes for Alex Hallford, who placed first in the qualifiers but could not keep his scores equally high in the finals. Being the only skater who had successfully ridden the BF Goodrich Tire, he wouldn’t stop skating until he had finally cleared the loop again for the whole crowd to witness. This – along with the fact that Alana Smith and Jordyn Barratt did not hesitate to take a dip in the Olympic Lake in full gear right after the prizegiving ceremony – perfectly sums up the amazing vibes that were tangible during the whole weekend of Red Bull Roller Coaster 2019. We will leave to final words to Jake Ilardi: “This is an amazing event and I can’t wait to be back next year.” Check out the recap and the highlights on Red Bull TV.
FINAL RESULTS
Men:
1. Jake Ilardi, USA 90.66 (Finals)
2. Alex Midler, USA 78.00 (Finals)
3. Jaime Mateu, ESP 73.00 (Finals)
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4. Alex Sorgente, USA 70.00 (Finals)
5. Danny Leon, ESP 65.00 (Finals)
6. Tyler Edtmayer, GER 59.33 (Finals)
7. Alex Hallford, GBR 56.66 (Finals)
8. Roope Tonteri, FIN 43.33 (Finals)
9. Lenni Janssen, GER 60.00 (Qualifier)
10. Cody Chapman, USA 50.00 (Qualifier)
11. Simon Stricker, SUI 46.66 (Qualifier)
12. Chris Haslam, CAN 28.66 (Qualifier)
13. Gosha Konyshev, RUS 26.00 (Qualifier)
14. Aref Koushesh, ITA 20.33 (Qualifier)
Women:
1. Alana Smith, USA 33.33 (Finals)
2. Jordyn Barratt, USA 28.00 (Finals)
3. Catherine Marquis, GER 17.66 (Finals)
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4. Fabiana Delfino, USA 20.66 (Qualifier)
5. Claudia Riera, SUI 13.33 (Qualifier)
6. Alisa Fessl, AUT 11.00 (Qualifier)