CPH AMS BER

Since its inception in 2007, the annual CPH Open has attracted the best skateboarders from across the globe. Revered as “The Champagne of Skateboarding,” it mixes traditional stadium skateboard competitions with cash-for-tricks sessions at authentic street locations across participating cities – always followed by massive crowds of skateboarders that mingle with top pros in a festival atmosphere.

Presented by Monster Energy, this year’s three-city spectacle started on August 4 with a three-day stretch in Copenhagen, followed by an action-packed day in Amsterdam. Kicked off on August 9, the grand finale in Berlin included an international street skateboarding competition at the Nike SB Shelter indoor skatepark next to surprise events at landmarks such as Alexanderplatz and Berlin Cathedral.

During this weekend’s final stretch of competitions in the German capital, Wair kept stacking tricks at every session. He landed technical tricks such as frontside kickflip and frontside bigspin in Thursday’s street session at a saucer-shaped street spot on the city’s outskirts, then blasted frontside feeble grinds in a backyard bowl session.

At the Civilist X Levi’s Skateboarding Supermarket Session near Alexanderplatz square on Friday, Wair took second place by tackling the kicker to guiderail set-up with speed and finesse. Standout moves included a lengthy ollie to boardslide across the kink and the entire 35-foot rail as well as a crooked grind to pop-over into the bank below. His Monster Energy teammate Nassim Guammaz from the Netherlands stoked the sizeable crowd with a frontside 50-50 grind to backside 180 across the entire rail, while Aliste posted a Caballerial kickflip over the bar into the bank.

When the organizers placed a launch ramp on a bridge across the River Spree near historic Berlin Cathedral, Wair did not hesitate to float high-flying 360 kickflips and backside bigspins in a fun session.

His teammate Baekkel shone during a rail session in a Berlin housing project with a frontside lipslide and frontside nosebluntslide over the kink.

For this year’s official CPH Pro street competition, the organizers split Saturday’s event in two: The qualifiers took place at the Nike SB indoor skate park in the Friedrichshain district, while the final session commenced at a surprise location – the DSS concrete spot built by locals in DIY-fashion over the past years. Wair finished the qualifiers in second place by unleashing a barrage of high-tech moves on the California Skateparks-designed course. Highlights included a powerful boardslide up the kink rail from flat, fakie ollie switch frontside crooked and frontside feeble shove it across the flat bar, backside nollie heelflip across the hip, blunt kickflip on the quarter, roll-out in the bowl corner to nollie kickflip fakie back in, and frontside nosegrind and frontside feeble the entire kink rail.

When the location of the finals was announced, the crowd of more than 600 spectators descended on the DSS concrete skate park. Every square inch of standing room surrounding the tiny street course was packed. Some viewers even scaled the fence of an adjacent soccer field for a better view of the final session featuring big-name pros such as Yuto Horigome, Luan Oliveira, and Jamie Foy. In a roaring festival atmosphere, Wair posted backside noseblunt on the quarter pipe, backside tailslide to fakie on the wall, nollie backside heelflip over the hip, and nollie 180 to switch crooked on the ledge. Ultimately, he claimed sixth place as American rookie pro Zion Wright took the win.

The rightful MVP of the contest, Wair had been a constant presence at every single session since the nine-day CPH Open spectacle began in Copenhagen. At the Triangle concrete street spot, the Thrasher Magazine Skater of the Year claimed first place in a street contest against some of the world’s best street skaters by stringing together complex tech moves in signature effortless style. Wair also ruled the street session in in Downtown Copenhagen, tore up the course at the newly rebuilt Copenhagen skatepark, and hoisted kickflips over a palette of beer cans from a kicker in a closed-off city street in front of a massive crowd.

Cheered on by hundreds of spectators, the Independent Trucks 40-stair Rail Session in counter-culture hotbed Christiania raised the bar for burly stunts in a street contest format. As the massive rail sidelined rider after rider, Baekkel posted the winning best trick of the day with a 40-stair frontside 5-0 grind. Also taking home a bundle of cash, Monster Energy teammate Matarollo from Argentina landed a frontside lipslide down the rail for third place. And before the circus left Copenhagen, Baekkel found the right lines to drop hammers for a second place finish in the raging bowl session for the 20^th anniversary of legendary ALIS Wonderland indoor park.

Next, the caravan of international top pros and spectators hit Amsterdam for a day of street skateboarding and a bowl competition. The street session at Eerste Weteringplantsoen park by the canal saw Chilean Monster Energy team rider Aliste claim second place in a stacked field of riders, joined in the Top 3 by Slovakian tech wizard Zaprazny in third place. During the session at legendary Marnix Bowl, Wair flexed his all-terrain skills to win the prelims, while Baekkel proved a force to be reckoned with in the infamous death race at NOORD skatepark before the CPH Open continued in Berlin.