Skateboarding
Skateboarding
Danny Léon just created the wildest mini-ramp contest
The Spaniard brought Red Bull Plus One – with its new, innovative mini-ramp format - to Barcelona for a contest that turned skateboarding into a combat-style showdown.
At his brand-new skateboarding event, Danny León didn’t just host – he won. The Spaniard took top spot at Red Bull Plus One, defeating Viktor Solmunde in the final, while Elias Nilsen secured third after the runner-up match. Set against the backdrop of Port Olímpic in Barcelona, León’s new mini-ramp concept flipped the traditional contest format on its head, turning it into a combat-style, head-to-head showdown.
With eight riders trading tricks and chipping away at each other’s “lives", the event unfolded like a live-action fighting game – building through the quarter-finals and semi-finals to a final showdown where the creator himself came out on top. This is how the top three looked at the end:
- Danny León (ESP) – 1st
- Viktor Solmunde (DEN) – 2nd
- Elias Nilsen (NOR) – 3rd
01
The idea behind Red Bull Plus One
The creation of the contest goes way back for León, who was inspired by the legendary mini-ramp video Almost: Cheese and Crackers with Chris Haslam and Daewon Song.
“One thing I like about the mini-ramp is that sometimes you don’t have time to think about what you are going to do," says León, who competed in his first mini-ramp contest when he was just 10. “Everything is improvisation and freestyle. When you put yourself into those situations, you can really see what you can do."
Red Bull Plus One was León’s way of turning that feeling into a live format. “I came up with this format because when I was a kid, I saw the big boys on the skateboard playing that”, he says. “I think it was called ‘add a trick’ and they had to add a trick, plus one, plus one, plus one.”
Red Bull Plus One was a brand-new concept from Danny León
© Raisa Abal/Red Bull Content Pool
For him, it was less about doing the hardest tricks and more about thinking fast and keeping the whole line in his head. It was all about reacting and memorising under pressure.
“It wasn’t difficult tricks, but it was difficult to remember what trick is the next, the order when you have five or ten tricks – you are like, whoa," he recalls. "And you can get lost. It was so much fun.”
That sense of play is exactly what he hopes to bring back with Red Bull Plus One, which he says is a contest, but not “a real contest, it’s about joy”.
02
How Red Bull Plus One worked
Eight riders were randomly placed into two brackets of four, with semi-finals, bracket finals and a Grand Final. Every round was also a one-on-one battle.
Each skater started with two lives plus a rebate (a single extra do-over). They then lost a life every time they failed to copy and add to a trick line. When both lives were gone, they lost the battle and their opponent advanced.
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Chris Haslam helped to inspire the creation of Red Bull Plus One
© Raisa Abal/Red Bull Content Pool
From the start of each battle, riders competed head-to-head, with one rider chosen at random to go first. The contest used a clear trick progression system: the starting rider set the first trick, and the opponent had to first match it and then add one new trick on top.
After that, it continued back and forth, with each rider repeating the full line and adding one more trick every turn. For example, Skater A began with an ollie, Skater B had to do an ollie plus a kickflip, and then Skater A had to come back with an ollie, a kickflip and a new trick.
03
What happened if the riders failed?
When the starting skater failed while setting a trick, there was no penalty; the trick sequence just reset and the turn passed. If the responding skater failed, they lost one life. A rider lost the battle when both lives were gone. When that happened, the opponent advanced to the next round.
04
How was Red Bull Plus One judged?
The contest was self-judging. That is because if a trick was landed, you stayed in. If you missed it, a life was lost. This naturally rewarded consistency, trick progression, creativity and smart strategy under pressure, while referee Kini was be on hand to make sure the rules were followed.
05
Red Bull Plus One results
Rider
Final Position
Progress
Danny León (ESP)
1st
Beat Chris Haslam (QF); Elias Nilsen (SF); Viktor Solmunde (Final)
Viktor Solmunde (DEN)
2nd
Beat Cole (QF); Rio O’Byrne (SF); lost to Danny León (Final)
Elias Nilsen (NOR)
3rd
Beat Cristian Sánchez (QF); lost to Danny León (SF); beat Rio O’Byrne (3rd place match)
Rio O’Byrne (GBR)
4th
Beat BronZskate (QF); lost to Viktor Solmunde (SF); lost to Elias Nilsen (3rd place match)
Chris Haslam (CAN)
QF
Lost to Danny León
Cole Gossett (USA)
QF
Lost to Viktor Solmunde
Cristian Sánchez (ESP)
QF
Lost to Elias Nilsen
BronZskate (ESP)
QF
Lost to Rio O’Byrne
