Men’s Park Qualifier, Gavin Bottger Posts Best Score Early | RSEO PDX 2026
Gavin Bottger. Photo: Durso
It was a brutal cut in the Men’s Park Qualifier on Friday at the 2026 Rockstar Energy Open (RSEO), but the crowd in Portland was treated to a super-sized contest to close out the day that was absolutely unhinged for each of the 72 runs.
Keegan Palmer. Photo: Durso
Across three heats, 24 skaters (six invited through the Video Qualifier Series) took three 45-second runs with only their best score counting in effort to make the top 10 for the Final. The relaxed tone of the event met its match with everyone in the stacked field trying their best to make the Final. The waves of tension and emotions ran high until the final run, by last year’s winner Tom Schaar as he dropped in still yet to qualify.
Gavin Bottger with girlfriend Paige Heyn and Gavin's dad. Photo: Durso
“Having such a deep field and such a savage cut to make the Final definitely changes it up,” said Gavin Bottger, who emerged as the top qualifier. “It makes me want to skate better, especially because I was in the earlier heat knowing that a lot of the best dudes were still to skate. When it comes down to it we're all just having fun here, and I feel like that's when people skate their best.”
Gavin’s best run packed it all in going frontside air, frontside nosegrind pop over the bar into the into the bowl, frontside tailslide, alley-oop stalefish, frontside ollie over the channel, crooked grind to fakie up the extension, fakie frontside 5-0, frontside air disaster, backside 540, alley-oop frontside air, alley-oop backside air, and a one foot 360 to fakie to finish. It gave Gavin the lead from the first heat that held the entire event.
Tommy Calvert. Photo: Ballard
While some of the top skaters advancing to the Final are the usual suspects, Bottger said he was stoked to see VQS qualifier Tommy Calvert make the cut in 10th and enjoyed skating in a deep field stacked with some local legends, old friends, and new names in the mix.
“It's a different crowd than you see usually at contests, and being able to have people sending in videos to qualify is a great opportunity for up-and-coming skaters, which is really awesome,” Bottger said.
Taylor Nye. Photo: Ballard
His strategy for the Final?
“I’m just gonna go with it, try to squeeze a couple extra good tricks in there, see what happens,” Bottger said. “I was just on a two-week filming trip, so I'm trying to heal up after some battle scars, honestly! I’m working on a full-length video part that’s gonna be coming out at the end of the year, so just trying to balance filming with, you know, not being able to stay away from contests knowing how much fun these always end up being!”
Rockstar skatet Keegan Palmer was close behind Bottger, taking the second transfer spot to the Final.
Greyson Fletcher. Photo: Ballard
“I mean, it's just an all-round good time with Greyson Fletcher being here, the crowd firing it up the whole time,” Palmer said. “It doesn't get much better than that for energy, and Portland is so good about showing their love to all of us. I think a lot of crowds are sometimes scared to scream and say random things and go crazy, but this crowd was loving it. They were backing it, and for me, that makes me excited to skate. So I can't complain, bro. It's an all-round amazing time.”
Pup band mates hanging deck side. Photo: Dillon
Back to Tom Schaar. Last year’s RSEO PDX 2025 winner, kept some suspense in the game, on the outside looking in before his third and final run bumped him into the 5th place transfer spot, knocking Vincent Matheron out.
Yuro Nagahara. Photo: Durso
The top 10 will skate again in the Final on Sunday at 1:45pm PT, while Saturday’s Dickies Best Trick Jam promises to bring everyone back to the bowl at 5:30pm PT. Watch everything LIVE on ThePlatfrm.com.
Men’s Park Qualifier Results
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Gavin Bottger, 85.33
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Keegan Palmer, 81.33
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Egoitz Bijueska, 74.00
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Yuro Nagahara, 72.00
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Tom Schaar, 71.00
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Kieran Woolley, 70.00
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Keefer Wilson, 68.00
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Roman Pabich, 67.00
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Liam Pace, 66.00
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Tommy Calvert, 64.00
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Vincent Matheron, 62.00
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Taylor Nye, 60.66
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Taiyo Amano, 60.33
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JD Sanchez, 60.00
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Kevin Kowalski, 58.33
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Tristan Rennie, 46.00
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Hampus Winberg, 45.00
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Weston Caldwell, 44.66
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Nick Peterson, 43.00
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Jedd McKenzie, 38.33
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Myles Pacheco, 38.33
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Cory Juneau, 33.66
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Alex Sorgente, 29.33
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Greyson Fletcher, 23.00