Gabryel Aguiar wins Rio Conquest on skateboard – 05/29/2023 – Sport

Even with his skateboard damaged in the middle of the final, Brazilian Gabryel Aguiar managed to lift the Red Bull Rio Conquest cup on Sunday (28), a competition that replicates classic points of street skateboarding in the capital of Rio de Janeiro on its track.

Under the strong sun on Botafogo beach, the athlete faced compatriot Giovanni Vianna in the final in a knockout style race, with the competitors entering together and looking for the best maneuvers for three minutes. The format is simpler compared to other skate street competitions like the Olympics, where judges average the scores of two laps and four tricks.

With just a few seconds left until the end of the heat, one of the shock absorbers on Aguiar’s skateboard was damaged due to the heat on the track — which softens the equipment, according to the athlete. The problem was repeated at least three times during Aguiar’s sweaty trajectory since the qualifying phase, on Saturday (27), but it did not prevent him from emerging in the tournament due to his high technical level.

“It broke, but everything worked out. That’s what skateboarding is all about,” said the athlete, who celebrated the title alongside Vianna, second on the podium. In third place was the Mexican Bryan Coria.

The competition had 44 athletes, half of them invited and better known to the public. The other half needed to advance in qualifying stages, like Aguiar.

In addition to the support of a cheering crowd of 1,400 people that filled the venue, the Brazilian competitors had the pleasure of flying through familiar obstacles. All eight sections of the track imitated historically popular locations for skateboarding in Rio de Janeiro. Among them, the Linha Amarela Railing, with its 12 degrees of stairs, and the Big Four, a staircase with four degrees located in Praça Tim Maia, in Recreio dos Bandeirantes.

“In the past, we didn’t have a track to skate and we looked for places on the street. Rio de Janeiro is one of those places in Brazil where all the street skaters came”, said Cezar Gordo, curator of the Cezar Gordo track, about the idea. of the event.

According to him, the replicated stretches increase the difficulty of the maneuvers and demand more from the athletes. “The skater really needs to adapt, like on the street. It’s not like traditional championships.”

Red Bull Conquest reached its third edition and has already taken the concept of honoring classic skate locations to Paris, in 2021, and to Lisbon, in 2022.

Leticia Bufoni, one of the biggest names in the category in Brazil, was the champion of the French edition and was surrounded by expectations this year. She finished fourth in the women’s bracket after losing the dispute with the promise from Rio de Janeiro Vitória Mendonça, just 21 years old.

At the age of 30, the X-Games title record holder revealed to ESPN a few days before the championship in Rio that she would not compete for a place in Paris.

Brazil had the chance to lead the podium in the women’s final with Gabriela Mazzeto from São Paulo, a member of the Brazilian skate street team. She ended up defeated by the champion of the Portuguese edition, Roos Zwetsloot, from the Netherlands, in a fierce match that earned a lot of applause from the crowd.

“I think I walked very well and I came to have fun. I’ve never been to Botafogo. On one side, you have Christ the Redeemer; on the other, Sugar Loaf. I never imagined that I could skate in a place like this”, he said. Mazzeto, who is preparing for the Rome stage of the pre-Olympic tournament.