2018 SLS London

Reigning SLS Super Crown World Champion and Monster Energy team rider Nyjah Huston was unable to compete in the 2018 SLS Pro Open London while still recovering from a knee injury sustained at Tampa Pro in March. The 23-year-old’s absence opened the door to a new generation of SLS rookies – including a surge of talent from Brazil – who gave seasoned SLS pros a run for their money this weekend.  

The bar for qualifying scores was raised during Sunday’s Pro Open Prelims that narrowed the field of 30 pro skaters down to eight finalists. Coming in strong with a solid first Run that covered the entire course, Monster Energy’s Ishod Wair landed a backside tailslide on the uphill ledge, backside Smith grind and kickflip frontside boardslide on the centerpiece kicker rail, blunt kickflip and frontside nosegrind on the quarter pipe, and kickflip noseslide up the Euro Gap ledge for a 7.2 point score. In Best Trick, Ishod followed up with a kickflip frontside lipslide on the centerpiece kicker rail (6.0 points) and switch backside tailslide on the out ledge (6.4 points), but had trouble posting another score to make the Finals. 

When all was said and done, 19-year-old Yuto Horigome from Tokyo, Japan walked away with the first-place trophy while 22-year-old SLS newcomer Jenn Soto from Los Angeles took the win in the Women’s event on Saturday.  

Monster Energy also congratulates Vincent Milou and Trent McClung for qualifying into the 2018 Street League Skateboarding World Tour.

Now that the London Pro Open is in the books, the 2018 Street League Skateboarding World Tour will continue on July 7 with Stop One in Los Angeles, California. Also look forward this coming weekend to seeing Tom Schaar, Trey Wood, Lizzie Armanto, and the rest of the Monster Energy team in São Paulo, Brazil to kick off the 2018 Vans Park Series Pro Tour.