Yuro Nagahara Wins Men’s Park Final Photos + Highlights | RSEO 2024
First place winner Yuro Nagahara propped by Kieran Woolley in second (left) and Keegan Palmer in third (right)
The sun was out and so were the people of Portland for the final day of competition at the Rockstar Energy Open. Men’s Park Final was the first event of the day and following the heated seminfinal on Friday only the top 10 advanced but it was still up for grabs as to who would win.
Keegan Palmer.
FORMAT: 10 skaters, three :45-second runs. Best run counts.
Legends and locals alike were out to see the action. From the crew of filmers ranging from Thrasher’s Chris Gregson, Transworld’s Collin Schwartz and Lee Dupont responsible for countless videos, the angles were consistently on point. Then there was the Cummins Snowboard family trekking down from Washington as well as skate shop owners from all over the greater Pacific Northwest area. The word was out that waterfront in PDX was the place to be.
Kieran Woolley.
Speaking of local legends, when Nick Peterson jumped into the bowl the bleachers blew up with support in the form of signs, screams and even some friendly heckling from his homies in the VIP tower.
Nick Peterson.
“This is not fucking California!” Was shouted at full volume following repeated chanting of “Portland!” Suffice to say the crowd had a favorite.
Phoenix Sinnerton.
Young gun Phoenix Sinnerton came into the final to make his first professional competition debut (outside of Olympic qualifiers). With the support of the skaters on the deck cheering him on, the youngest competitor at 15 made a complete run with kickflip Indy, 540 nosegrab and heelflip Indy as staples to open. He also took a backside tailslide deeeeep into the deep end.
Roman Pabich.
Yuro also brought the bleachers to their feet cheering on his smooth style and undeniably strong runs. The kickflip Indy transfer off the pool coping extension wall into the deep end and HUGE backside 540 set him way apart from the rest.
Yuro Nagahara.
Between runs skaters would walk along the spectator railings and high fiving the crowds, some fans even made fans to keep themselves cool by folding Doritos bags. Others simply dressed appropriately (think sun hats and open baggy clothes that allow for a healthy breeze).
Tom Schaar.
“It doesn’t get much better than this for us. This has been such a sick contest!” said Keegan Palmer, two-time Olympic gold medalist (and third place finisher on the day!). “The crowd is loving it! I’m stoked!
For the 3rd and final runs all the signs came out, for example when Vincent Matheron dropped in a 10-foot wide sign reading “Marseille” (the name of his hometown and famed local skate bowl) was stretched out in support.
Taylor Nye.
Then Nick was back in and following a squirrely attempt to smith stall the spectator rail he slipped out, but his run wasn’t over… Greyson Fletcher wouldn’t allow Nick to leave until we saw two rebate runs to let him try a frontside feeble on the pool coping extension to transfer out into the deep end. He didn’t pull it but nobody was disappointed with the effort.
“I feel a lot of love from the crowd and my family being here. That’s all that matters to me, stoking people out,” said Nick once the mayhem around the bowl calmed down. “This whole event has been super mellow. Everyone has been super cool. It’s not like a regular contest.”
Tate Carew.
When asked if the Rockstar Energy Open returns next year if he would skate in it again, he replied with a grin, “I’ll do it.”
In the end it was Yuro that was hoisted onto the shoulders of his homies before receiving his first place award while shirtless. We are a long way from the Olympics, and it feels great. As part of his winnings, a fan in the crowd wanted to award him a shiba inu dog! Yuro seemed to be considering it.
“It’s fun. It has been my favorite contest. Everyone killed it!” said Yuro.
In response to being asked if he expected to do so well, he responded that he was just here to have fun. After signing a few dollar bills, Nike shoes and random other things from the fans, it was say to say he enjoyed himself.
Trick Highlights
- Yuro Nagahara: Kickflip Indy transfer to deep end, HUGE backside 540 (judges: “That’s an above-his-head 540 and it’s not even the best thing in his run”), long frontside feeble, Caballerial disaster, backside Ollie tailstall pop-in from wall
- Kieran Woolley: Loooong frontside 5-0 grind around the whole bowl (Corbin Harris in the booth: “Frontside 5-0 as long as you can possibly go,”) backside Smith grind extension, Ollie to manual transfer, Miller flip, backside boneless on setback wall
- Keegan Palmer: Kickflip frontside air transfer over hip to deep end, really good high speed frontside nosegrind on vert wall, kickflip Indy over hip, Indy 540, kickflip Indy to fakie.
- Taylor Nye: One foot body jar, really good backside tailslide, backside grab 540, Cab body jar
- Tate Carew: Long lipslide, frontside tail stall on setback wall, 540 Weddle, stalefish transfer
- Phoenix Sinnerton: Kickflip Indy, nosegrab 540, heelflip Indy, lengthy backside tailslide in the deep end
- Roman Pabich: Fastplant varial
- Vincent Matheron: Nice frontside invert, hurricane on the extended pool coping wall
- Tom Schaar: Tailgrab 540, huge alley-oop Indy transfer over the hip, gap out of the deep end and up to the extended pool coping wall into a noseslide to fakie
- Nick Peterson: Backside crailslide the extended pool coping wall, backside boneless the other extended pool coping wall, Smith stall pop-in from spectator railing
Men’s Park Final Results
- NAGAHARA Yuro JPN 90.77
- WOOLLEY Kieran AUS 87.18
- PALMER Keegan AUS 85.01
- NYE Taylor USA 78.26
- CAREW Tate USA 74.88
- SINNERTON Phoenix AUS 73.95
- PABICH Roman USA 71.08
- MATHERON Vincent FRA 68.95
- SCHAAR Tom USA 65.08
- PETERSON Nick USA 60.45