Tom Schaar.

The Rockstar Energy Open chose Portland, Oregon, the beautiful city of roses, aka Bridge city, aka PDX, to host the first-ever event, and in true Pacific Northwest fashion the Men’s Park Semifinal had to embrace the rain before it was over. But after two rain delays and a ton of fired up energy around the deck and in the stands, the event was memorable to say the least.

FORMAT: 18 skaters, two heats of nine. Three :45-second runs, best run counts. Top 10 advance to the Final.

On the microphones in the booth were Corbin Harris and Omar Hassan, skate authorities and legends, as well as Chris Pastras bowlside to get interviews with the athletes. An all-star lineup of talent calling the action, to say the least. Then, the Street hosts Sean on Malto and Chris Roberts were off shift but still on site experiencing the action in the bowl. 

Also enjoying the sights were athletes of all types–like snowboarder Jill Perkins and freestyle moto rider Colby Raha–their friends and the friends of their friends. Plus the locals!

Nick Peterson.

In case you don’t know much about the scene at Burnside, seeing Nick Peterson in this event added the ultimate hometown hero underdog story to the mix. Another local legend Emile Laurent (cover of Thrasher, March 2023) was seen in the VIP mix, and countless others from the area filled out the bleachers. Portland’s finest were in attendance.

In appropriate Pacific Northwest conditions, it was Nick that first battled the rainfall. Even with a snail trail of wheel marks left in his wake, he couldn’t be slowed down.

 Roman Pabich

Nick on taking a run in the rain “It’s something that I’m totally used to and it fires you up to hang onto everything. I was just feeling the energy from everybody and pushing it in the rain—it’s tight and I’m used to it.”

“Hell yeah,” said Nick in response to the turnout and Portland crowd. “It’s like half of my homies, so they’re pushing me. I had to drink a couple liquid courages, because the crowds are hard for me to skate with but [the other skaters] are all the homies, so it worked. It’s been good times, especially when crunch time came.”

Tate Carew.

After about an hour hiatus the rain broke, the sun returned and the skating was on again. Chris Russell wasn’t the first to drop back in but it was his run that reignited the contest. With his beanie coming off, Russell caught it in his hand and then threw it away mid run to continue his attack. 

The energy on the deck continue to pick up with every run. For Roman Pabich’s last run six or so people raised their skateboards and lined up to form a tunnel for Roman to roll through to start his run. Despite the high stakes and heavy tricks, people were just having fun from start to finish.

Kieran Woolley.

“It reminded me of the old contest days,” said Tristan Rennie, 2014 Vans Pool Party champion, an authority on the topic. “We got a good crew together, we are all just having fun, pushing each other and skating with our friends, not for the score. We’ve got the full spectrum of skaters out here, it’s super fun.”

“Out here on the water in Portland with Burnside right down the street—it’s great,” continued Tristan. “It was so sick getting Nick [Peterson] out here. He destroys Burnside and is the hometown hero here. It’s been sick seeing people you don’t usually get to see.”

Phoenix Sinnerton.

Then the rain returned, but not without Greyson Fletcher getting a run through the slick bowl. Because he did slip out, so once the rain stopped again Greyson got a rebate. But it was during his second run that he really went all out for entertainment’s sake. After jumping off his board with a few seconds left he stepped off his board to backflip into the bowl. Then he ran up to retrieve his board and dropped back in and tried a frontside rodeo but slipped out. A true showman. 

Taylor Nye.

His third run was also a showstopper. The Ollie up onto the big extension and then into the deep end fired the crowd up for the third time, then a big Ollie one-foot over the hip and a frontside 50-50 in the deep end standing tall like a surfer in an overhead barrel sealed the deal for everyone. Everyone except the judges. The people’s champ earned a score of 59.33 that was only good enough for 13th, which would not advance him.

The best run of the semifinal belonged to Tom Schaar, the Paris 2024 Olympic silver medalist. Simply a reflection of the incredible range of skaters and the level of difficulty required to reach the final. The day was packed.

Keegan Palmer.

“It low-key doesn’t get much better than this for us,” said Keegan Palmer, two-time Olympic gold medalist. “Half of the dudes in this contest we used to do events with all the time, but then the Olympics shit came up and they don’t do that. It’s been so fun, nobody’s been wearing pads–it’s cool.”

Yuro Nagahara.

TOP 10 ADVANCING (Trick Highlights)

• TOM SCHAAR: 50-50 off into deep, alley-oop indy over hip, noseslide to fakie off the top of the pool coping extension from the deep end, kickflip indy to fakie, cab back disaster, frontside ollie to tail on the spectator handrail. A really complete run with zero basics in it.
• YURO NAGAHARA: No wasted walls. A huge melon 540, one foot backside ollie, frontside feeble grind through the corner, boardslide fakie, cab disaster, frontside ollie, smith stall on the spectator handrail back to disaster and a frontside flip at the buzzer.
• KIERAN WOOLLEY: Skated fastest of anyone today. Backside Smith on the extension, frontside nosegrind big wall, 5-0 grind off extension into deep end then a proper frontside invert.
• TAYLOR NYE: Clean lines. A great stalefish transfer, backside lipslide on the extension, backside 50-50 transfer across flat bar gap, and a nosegrab 540.
• KEEGAN PALMER: Strangely casual first run. Kickflip frontside air over hip, frontside nosegrind on the big wall, kickflip indy to fakie big wall.
• PHOENIX SINNERTON: Great combos to make a good line. Starts strong with kickflip indy, nosegrab 540, backside tailslide in the deep end.
• TATE CAREW: Backside Smith, frontside tailslide on the extension, a proper stalefish transfer, frontside tail stall pop in on the spectator handrail. 
• ROMAN PABICH: Fastplant off extension into deep, frontside invert, frontside crook to fakie, backside noseblunt pop in
• NICK PETERSON: Smith stall on the spectator handrail, backside nosegrind pop in, frontside air to disaster, frontside bluntslide.
• VINCENT MATHERON: A sugarcane grind classic, backside nosegrind pop in, and a Cab backside smith stall to back revert.

Men’s Park Semifinal Results

1. SCHAAR Tom USA 86.68
2. NAGAHARA Yuro JPN 85.44
3. WOOLLEY Kieran AUS 76.74
4. NYE Taylor USA 76.00
5. PALMER Keegan AUS 75.53
6. SINNERTON Phoenix AUS 73.20
7. CAREW Tate USA 70.33
8. PABICH Roman USA 69.33
9. PETERSON Nick Cal Skate USA 65.83