Skateboarding
Skateboarding
Postcards from the edge – Red Bull Bowl Rippers 2023!
Europe’s most legendary skatepark welcomes some of the planet’s top bowl skaters to France’s friendliest city for a contest like no other in the world today!
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Over a scorcher of a weekend in the beachside paradise of Marseille’s Prado Bowl, Red Bull Bowl Rippers returned to bring the bowl skating big time back to France’s most bohemian city.
Since 2017, Red Bull has kept the flame of international skate contests alive at Marseille’s hallowed Bowl Du Prado, arguably the world’s most iconic bowl and certainly a place apart in skateboarding lore.
In front of packed crowds that took up the entire hillside and all the extra seating as well, a weekend of wall-to-wall skate action went off with the audience made up of both locals and many visitors treated to the skills and fearlessness of Rune Glifberg, Ivan Federico, George Poole, Robin Bolian, Janis Billon, Poppy Olsen, Nathan Matheron, crowd favourite Yurin Fujii, Jean Panataleo and more.
Yurin Fujii – McTwist
© Nicolas Jacquemin
Golden moment
© Nicolas Jacquemin
Tom Schaar – Indy Air
© Nicolas Jacquemin
Vincent Matheron – Sugarcane
© Nicolas Jacquemin
As Sunday’s sun rose over the port city, the finals consisting of individual 45-second runs and then a six-minute jam format brought the energy and danger of the old ‘all-in’ Texas deathmatch format back to bowl skating- and the resultant crowd noise was an accurate measure of their approval.
With even filmmaker Chris Gregson getting in on the best-trick action, this was bowl skating at its wildest and most spontaneous going down in the birthplace of more than a few skateboarding legends. With locals like Vincent Matheron or Jean Pantaleo and visitors like Bryce Wettstein being given ovations by the loving crowd, it is hard to imagine a better nexus of skateboarding culture and laid-back seaside lifestyle.
Pedro Quintas – Hurricane
© Pierre Antoine Lalaude
Madeleine Larcheron – Crailslide
© Pierre-Antoine-Lalaude
Gavin Bottger – Frontside Air Transfer
© Nicolas Jacquemin
Pump it up!
© Pierre Antoine Lalaude
By the time the oranges were turning to reds over the hillsides surrounding the bay, Danny Leon and Bryce Wettstein were judged to be the outright winners in their categories, but clearly, from the reactions of the crowd through to the camaraderie on the platforms, it’s clear that the big winner here is skateboarding itself. Nowhere else in the world is it experienced with the intimacy and intensity of passion that Marseille seems to generate for everybody involved every single time.
Our thanks to one and all involved, as always!
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Let's look back at the best of Red Bull Bowl Rippers from 2019 and 2020
Many adjustments were made to the format, number of invitees, production crew and layout to ensure that this year's event focused on producing an all-action experience to keep everyone sparked on skating in 2020.
As well as France, the transition traditions of Germany, Spain, Denmark, Sweden and Italy were all represented in a socially distanced format.
The hope was that with a heavier emphasis on domestic European talent who could reach the event safely, we'd see some breakthrough skating – and that was just what happened.
Adrien Bruguiere – Front Feeble
© Nicolas Jacquemin
Ivan Federico – Flip Melon
© Nicolas Jacquemin
Marcel Wintherlig – Frontside Ollie
© Teddy Morellec/Red Bull Content Pool
Simon Léauté – Invert
© Teddy Morellec
Jean Pantaleo, who's always one of the big draws for the bowl contest at Prague's Mystic Cup, demonstrated a feel for the contours of the fabled terrain that only locals can truly know and which shone through in his total mastery of the space. His victory here was richly symbolic – he's a Marseille local.
Danny Léon is always guaranteed to deliver, and this weekend was no exception. How many other skaters can Backside Kickflip Stalefish over hips anywhere in the world? He has them on lock now and it's genuinely amazing to witness.
6 min
Marseille local Jean Pantaleo wins at Bowl Du Prado
Watch highlights of Jean Pantaleo winning and much more skate action from Red Bull Bowl Rippers 2020.
X-Games gold medallist Ivan Federico was one of the weekend's standouts, logging more hammers for the edit than almost anyone else, including Bluntsliding, the highest extension in the park, while Jaime Mateu seems even more powerful and consistent than he was even a year ago if his gargantuan Indy 540 Transfers are anything to go by.
It's worth noting that Mateu came within a single point of retaining his Red Bull Bowl Rippers crown here, and he's undeniably one of the greatest terrain talents ever to come out of Europe by this point. Energy guaranteed.
Danny León – Alley Oop Frontside Air
© Teddy Morellec
Jaime Mateu – Indy Fakie
© Nicolas Jacquemin
Karl Berglind – Tailbone
© Teddy Morellec/Red Bull Content Pool
Danny León – Front Blunt
© Teddy Morellec/Red Bull Content Pool
Karl Berglind is the wizard of Sweden's giant Stapelbäddsparken skatepark, and his gift for flow on huge concrete curves was on full display all weekend – check out the Nose Manual in the extension!
All told, you might say this was they year that Red Bull Bowl Rippers came home to Marseille, so big knucks to all the French skate agencies involved in helping us pull off this important event during this strangest of years.
Enjoy the action and check out how we managed to do it in our deep dive behind-the scenes video that we'll bring you this time next week.
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Highlights from Red Bull Bowl Rippers 2019
As day turned into night on another glorious Red Bull Bowl Rippers in Marseille, France, Jaime Mateu continued to amp the crowd long after the klaxon sounded the end of the finals jam, just because he loves it so much.
It was perhaps fitting, although by no means certain, that he would be victorious tonight. He edged out Chris Russell, from whom we saw an intensity that left blood on the dance floor and some monstrous slams from trying to revert off the highest extension available.
Danny León rounded out the Men's podium, although not far behind was the rapidly emerging Luiz Francisco of Brazil, who has magic in him.
Robin Bolian – Backside Air
© Teddy Morellec
Vincent Matheron – Indy Air
© Teddy Morellec
Jaime Mateu – One Foot Tailgrab
© Teddy Morellec
Ale Mazzara – Stalefish
© Teddy Morrelec
Few would doubt that the standard in the Women's final was the highest anyone had seen. In Autumn Tust, a star might very well have been born, Kisa Nakamura is genuinely amazing, and Yndi Asp had an unbelievable intro run that in itself should show how far this class has advanced in an incredibly short time.
On the basis of those three alone, the Women's contest was a quantum leap in progression, but Poppy Olsen's charm and energy brought the hill to their feet, and a new end-of-level boss was ordained in what can only be good news for the direction of women’s competitive skateboarding everywhere.
Honorable mentions must always go to Vincent Matheron, who, along with Samuel Geoni, showed what total symbiosis between skater and spot looks like, Jake Wooten, who brought his unique interpretation of the possibilities of the grabless ollie and Italy's Alessandro Mazzara, a vert wunderkind with a lot more to his game than just two walls, who turned many heads all weekend long.
A perfect day in a perfect place, we thank all involved and all watching. Podium results below.
Watch the highlights from 2019
44 min
Red Bull Bowl Rippers
Marseille has been a constant on the global skate calendar and Red Bull Bowl Rippers re-invents the contest.
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