Mo Malmo.

Once again, Quiksilver held their annual bowlriders event at the Stapelbaddsparken skatepark in Malmo, Sweden; however, they bumped it back a few weeks this year due to the inclement weather encountered last year. Instead of freezing rain and overcast skies, we had temperatures overwhelming the heat tolerances of the competitors and sunburns throughout the crowd, evidence of a hole in the ozone layer. What a difference three weeks can make.

THIS WAS MY THIRD TRIP to Malmo, and each time it gets better. The locals, Jon Magnusson, Leon, the doctor, and Pontus Alv always make sure to show us a good time. Although Jon was pretty busy running the skateshop, groundskeeping the skatepark, and coordinating any and all other things Malmo for the list of visitors, he still managed to make it out to the bars on a few nights. Leon, as always, was down to drive anyone needing a ride around town--a big thing when the cost of renting a car for a weekend is equivalent to a month's rent in the States. Pontus, as always, has some new creation to skate in Malmo. Combined with the help of Leon, many people found themselves skating his DIY spots whenever the commotion of the contest got to be too much.

Gone are the glory days of Marseille, where the beer-drinking scallywags would show up hung over, chug a few cold ones, and take it all the way to the finals. Now it's cutthroat competition for most of the guys. It's sad to see it turn out that way, but the new protocol was inevitable. I guess the proliferation of skateparks around the world make it less appealing to fly to Sweden and take a few dozen runs in one pit, while in the same amount of time--and a whole lot less money--you can skate dozens of parks throughout the northwestern US. It's just more fun to skate empty parks with a small crew than duke it out with dozens of guys trying to come up on some World Cup points.

The semi-finals saw an even mix of young and old. Mattias Nylen, Vince DeValle, Ross McGouran, Allan Mesquita, and Chris Cudlip kept the veterans on their toes, while Rune Glifberg, Nicky Guerrero, Alain Goikoetxea, Casper Plass, Daniel Cardone, Andy Scott, and Malmo local John Magnusson showed the younger guys how it's done.

Between the semi-finals and finals, some guy from Flat handed Duncan a wad of Swedish cash to hand out for whoever was ripping. So Duncan made the announcement, and those who hadn't advanced to the finals--along with invited legends Salba, Sehroeder, Ngoho, and Reategui--lit up the bowl. Div Adams and Jimmy the Greek made off with a significant portion of the cash given out, which most likely went to the expensive price of alcohol (evidence of socialized health care). The shallow end stairs were a popular obstacle to base tricks around. Div started it off with a 5-0 to fakie over. Midway through, Schroeder threw the old lipslide roll in. At the very end, Cardone frontside flipped the fucking thing.

AFTER THAT, a 12-minute jam for the finals was underway, and the six chosen took to the bowls. About a minute in, Rune stuck the heelflip Indy gay twist in the deep first go, which pretty much set the standard for the type of skating that would win. Jon Magnusson would casually cruise through the park, hitting every nook and cranny and making the difficult lines look effortless. Alain Goikoetxea combined street skills with tranny to ollie into nosepicks on the extensions, and even threw a hurricane to fakie on the concrete wall over the loveseat. Ross McGouran tweaked a lien that looked like a melon fakie 'til the last second, when he would turn it in to forward. Nicky Guerrero showed what its like to skate professionally for almost two decades, and Mattias Nylen rounded out the top six.

When the results were announced, it was no surprise to see Rune in first, local Jon Magnusson in second, and Alain in third. Now, you can go claiming some sort of hometown hero advantage thing, and you might--unless you were there. Magnusson skated the park the best that it could be skated. No, he didn't have that one big move that he'd repeat throughout the contest; just good, solid, smooth skating, and making complete use of the park. He has the advantage of skating it everyday, and he does, but as he said on the podium, "I know the pros have a deep bag of tricks that they keep pulling new stuff out of as the event nears the finals." It's humbling for sure, but probably not as humbling as having to clean up all that confetti and champagne.