The World Loves Skateboarding | Best Of Red Bull Skateboarding 2020

2020 was a most unusual year, but it will be remembered as one of skateboarding’s most globally successful years.

The reasons for that are many and varied, sometimes overlapping, but a perfect convergence of circumstances saw skate shops around the world unable to meet demand, small brands suddenly able to clear out entire inventories, and uptake – oftentimes re-uptake – of skating worldwide at a level not seen since the headiest days of decades past.

It was at breakfast the morning after Red Bull Skateboarding’s 2020 planning meeting last January that the newspaper headline spoke of a city being locked down far away. It’s doubtful that anyone back then could have foreseen the last 12 months playing out the way they have, but with so many projects already under way globally the race was on to bring them all in – safely, and in whole.

From Patrik Wallner’s pioneering Uzbekistan skate project to contests like Simple Session, Red Bull Solus & Red Bull Bowl Rippers to RAW EDITS with Jamie Foy, CJ Collins & more to introducing the world to Madars Skate Tales to skating Larvikite with Torey Pudwill & crew to exploring the spirit of skateboarding in Africa, 2020 will go down in as an epic year in our history books!

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How Skateboarding Is Transforming The Lives Of Kenyan Street Youth | SKATE AFRICA Part Two

So, ladies and gentlemen, if you have not already had the pleasure then allow us to introduce you to George Zuko – a candidate for raddest human in the world today. As with Sandy Alibo in Ghana, George has been a talismanic figure in the development of skateboard culture here in Kenya.

How about this: George is a skater who helps run skate camps at an educational orphanage where the country’s first skatepark resides. Think about that for a moment. Children sleeping on the streets are by no means uncommon in Nairobi, and George introduced us to two young rippers who once slept right by the local skate spot – and started skating as a result. With George’s introduction of skating into their lives, The Keedz (‘the pair’) are off the streets, enrolled in school, and ripping.

Samuel Mwangi and Ezra Nyongesa – everyone calls him Balo, though – proved constant companions for Jaakko Ojanen, Chenai Gwandure, Yann Horowitz and Jackson Pilz as our joy bus spent a week rolling around with the skate scene of Nairobi. Sam even shot Balo’s front board photo from this feature on his first try with a camera. Fast learner!

The Shangilia association which runs the educational orphanage space where the radiant skatepark resides work with hundreds of such children every day. Watch Patrik Wallner’s superb documentary on Jaakko and friends’ skate mission with the local rippers of Nairobi above.

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Exploring West Africa On A Skateboard With Jaws, Barney Page & Crew | THE GREEN CAPE Part One – Red Bull

There are over 1.2b people living in Africa at the moment. With skateboarding reaching the ends of the earth, from northern Russia to the Maldives, Uruguay to the Galapagos Islands, it only makes sense that, with such a large population, Africa should boast some respectable skate scenes as well, right?

Red Bull partnered up with Luke Jackson of South Africa’s ever-excellent Session Skate Magazine and set sail with Barney Page, Aaron ‘Jaws’ Homoki, Dakota Servold and Yann Horowitz to explore some of these burgeoning scenes, enrolling Patrik Wallner behind the lens to document the experience for sharing.

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Full Skate Compilation Of 2018 – Red Bull

Red Bull brought you skating like no-one else does for another 12 straight months – now watch it wrapped up in Patrik Wallner’s blistering mega-edit! The idea behind Red Bull’s globe-trotting Skate Escape series has always been to do the other thing. Take on the bigger challenge. Going skating down the backstreets of this world of ours is always a rewarding experience – new spots, new faces and fast times.

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Red Bull – The Hidden Colony

‘When he proposed to link up with Yoshi Tanenbaum, Vladik Scholz, Thaynan Costa and Marius Syvanen to take on the manifold challenges of skating Hong Kong and Macau, luminary lensman Jonathan Mehring stepped up to handle photographic duties, and Patrik Wallner who quickly established himself as the leading light of the left-field skate exploration, documented the procedure.

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