Aspiring skateboarders and Portland locals shine at the Rockstar Energy Open

An 18-year-old skateboarder puts on a skate so technical and stylish in his first professional competition that no other skater in the finals – not even world champions and Olympians – can top him. He takes first place and, as the crowd chants his name, jumps in and is lifted aloft while cameras film his family hugging and celebrating.

Sounds unrealistic? That’s exactly what happened on Sunday evening at the first street final of the Rockstar Energy Open for men, when Lazer Crawford wowed the crowd with his first victory in a professional competition.

Crawford’s winning run included a perfectly executed kickflip frontside bluntslide and a kickflip backside tailslide. He completely surprised the veterans in the field – five of whom were just in Paris for the Olympics earlier this month – but in the true spirit of skateboarding, they were thrilled for him.

It was “100 percent” the biggest win of his career, said Crawford – who was sprayed with a rock star finish to celebrate the occasion because, oh yes, he is also part of the title sponsor’s team.

Is he ready for what comes next – invitations to X Games, Dew Tours and other professional-level competitions?

“No, not at all,” Crawford said, laughing. “It’s going to be crazy, I hope.”

Crawford wasn’t the only up-and-coming skateboarder who had the opportunity to shine at the Rockstar Energy Open, which took place August 23-25 ​​at Portland’s Waterfront Park.

Unlike most professional-level skateboarding events that are invitation-only, the Rockstar Energy Open featured a truly open portion where skateboarders could submit video parts as part of the Video Qualifying Series (VQS) to secure a spot in the competition.

One skateboarder, 16-year-old Secret Lynn, received the Viewers’ Choice at the VQS, which gave her an automatic place in the semifinals of the Women’s Street Championship.

There, she took third place and secured her ticket to the finals – in a field that included Olympians, Street League Skateboarding champions and other competition veterans.

“I think there should definitely be more competitions like this,” Lynn said after Sunday’s women’s final, where she finished sixth out of eight. “It was really fun, especially because it was open to the public. I think there should be a lot more competitions like this so people can watch and see how good you are.”

For Lynn, the exposure that comes with a competition like the Rockstar Energy Open – the brand has 1.1 million followers on Instagram – is invaluable. Finishing third in the semifinals was already “reassuring and felt really good,” Lynn said. “I thought to myself, ‘We’ve already made it to the finals, so we’ve already shown that we can finish third if we want to. So just give it as much as your body allows (in the finals).'”

When a skateboarder is invited to compete more often, it can open up opportunities with more sponsors who will help him or her pursue the career in the sport that he or she desires.

Lynn, an amateur for Santa Cruz Skateboards, hopes to find a balance between entering competitions and filming street parts. One skater she emulates is Chris Joslin, who also competed in this weekend’s Open.

Joslin is only 28 years old, but with all the young guns around him in Portland, he felt like a veteran for the first time in his career.

“I always felt like I was new to the business, just getting into it and looking up to P-Rod, Shane O’Neill and Nyjah (Huston). And this is the first competition where I’m kind of the oldest guy here, which is weird for me,” Joslin told me. Now he’s the skater the next generation looks up to.

Even the list of invited figure skaters was different from the usual suspects at other competitions.

Crawford’s Rockstar Energy teammate Braden Hoban – who himself only turned pro in 2022 and finished on the podium in the men’s road final on Sunday – had a prescient prediction ahead of the event that proved correct.

“Every event definitely has a lot of the same people competing – there aren’t that many competition series,” Hoban told me Thursday. “They’re always super fun, but I think it’s just cool that this event gives all these new people a chance to compete and maybe even win, even if they’ve never competed before. It just makes it more exciting for everyone involved – for everyone watching and for everyone skating.”

“It’s a refreshment for skateboarding,” said Cory Juneau, another skater on the Rockstar team who won bronze at skateboarding’s Olympic debut in Tokyo 2021. “It creates a lot of opportunities for young skaters to prove themselves and show their talent, and we don’t have a lot of that in skateboarding right now.”

Unlike the major leagues—think NFL football or NBA basketball—many fans of action sports like skateboarding or snowboarding practice the sports themselves. So the ecosystem is self-sustaining and needs to appeal to new generations for the health of the entire industry.

For the young fans in the crowd who saw Lynn or Crawford – or even 11-year-old street skater Mei Ozeki, who took first place in the VQS women’s street skater qualification heats – perform at a high level, a new hobby, if not a new career path, may have developed.

“We sold a lot of first skateboards here all weekend,” said Kevin Holmes, assistant manager of Portland-based skate shop Tactics, who helped run the shop’s tent at the Rockstar Energy Open. “They can actually see it, so I think it’s more inspiring, like, ‘I want to do that one day.'”

The Rockstar Energy Open also featured a Shop Challenge competition where Portland skate shop riders could compete for the grand prize. Participating shops included Cal Skate, Tactics, The Method, Substance, and Cal’s Pharmacy.

Cal Skate took first place thanks in part to the performance of Portland’s Nick Peterson, who doesn’t take part in many competitions but can be found on the street filming clips.

By a twist of fate, a spot opened up on the men’s park grid and organizers offered Peterson the chance to come in. The 29-year-old finished ninth in qualifying – leaving seasoned competition veterans behind – to qualify for Sunday’s final, where he received plenty of love from his home crowd.

“No, not at all,” Peterson laughed when asked if he expected to make it to the finals. “It was very nerve-wracking for me. But it was quite fun and I’m just glad I did it.”

However, some skaters prefer a life as a filmmaker to competing – which is something the industry needs for its general well-being.

“I guess if (the Rockstar Energy Open) came back to Portland and they wanted me to compete again, I probably would, but other than that, no, no competitions in the future,” Peterson said.

Exposure Skate, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering women, girls, trans and nonbinary people through skateboarding, also gave away 100 skateboards and helmets during the Rockstar Energy Open Community Day and taught participants – including beginners, learners and those in need of help – how to build their own skateboard.

Amelia Brodka, a professional skater who represented Poland at the sport’s Olympic debut in Tokyo, co-founded Exposure Skate in 2012 and is its president. For young skaters who may have gotten a taste for skating at this weekend’s Rockstar Energy Open, Exposure Skate’s camps, retreats and competition events would be a fitting next step.

“Over 200 women and girls from all over the world come to our event and there are all levels of competitors, from beginners on the board to some of the top professionals and Olympians who have risen through our events,” said Brodka.

Lynn and many of the other young women in the Rockstar Energy Open field have participated in exposure events.

“The fact that VQS allows lesser-known skateboarders from around the world to participate and give them a chance to not only win some money, but also to make it here to the Rockstar Energy Open and skate with the people they are the biggest fans of, is a huge opportunity for them,” added Brodka, who also provided live commentary for the Rockstar Energy Open live stream on The Platfrm.

Mizuho Hasegawa, 13, of Japan, took first place in the women’s park final. “It would mean so much to me if people were inspired to start skateboarding by watching me and other park skaters,” she said.

After Hasegawa’s winning run, 20-year-old Bryce Wettstein ran up to her and hugged her. It sounds ridiculous to call Wettstein, a two-time Olympian, a veteran, but consider this: The average age of Rockstar Energy Open park winners was 15.

Wettstein said it meant “the world” to play the role of mentor to the younger girls.

“You see all these girls and they bring so much drive and perspective, and I just feel like all of us younger girls now see each other for who we are – we nod at each other like, ‘Hey, it’s you,’ and it’s so much fun,” Wettstein said. “They don’t shy away from anything.”