Vans graciously offered to fly Juice Magazine’s Dan Levy out to cover the Vans Park Series Championships this weekend, and it’s gonna be a good one! Today and tomorrow, @JuiceDan will be bringing you on-location live coverage, on the @JuiceMagazine instagram, from Salt Lake City, Utah at the newly built Vans legacy skatepark. This new skatepark is the last of three new parks that the Vans Park Series has built for skateboarders around the globe this 2019 tour season. Thanks Vans! Juice Magazine is stoked to be part of this historic event and celebration of transition skateboarding!
As of noon today, the women’s semi-finals have been on fire with Kokona Hiraki from Japan in first place, followed by Japan’s Sakura Yosozumi in 2nd, and Japan’s Mami Tezuka in 3rd, followed by Russian born/American transplant to Florida, Grace Marhoefer in 4th place.
Tune in at 2pm today for the Mens Prelims and Semifinals at VANSPARKSERIES.COM.
LIVE BROADCAST AIRS ON SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7
GLOBAL BROADCAST TIMES
Saturday, September 7
Salt Lake City – 12 p.m.
São Paulo – 3 p.m.
Los Angeles – 11 a.m.
New York – 2 p.m.
London – 7 p.m.
Shanghai – 2 a.m. (Sunday, September 8)
Sydney – 4 a.m. (Sunday, September 8)
Capping off an eventful tour season full of expert competition and unrivaled skateboarding, the time has finally come for the 2019 Vans Park Series World Championships, hosted at the brand-new Vans-Utah Sports Commission Skatepark. The weekend is slated for an incredible grand finale in the heart of Utah, in Salt Lake City, featuring the best park terrain skateboarders from over 35 countries duke it out for the coveted championship title. The final field is set, and the top-ranking pros, challengers, wildcards and regional VPS champions have arrived for the big show! See confirmed list of riders below and tune in to see the world’s best park terrain skaters on Saturday, September 7 on vansparkseries.com.
Select Pro Alex Sorgente will be looking to defend his world championship title against an intimidating field of powerhouse park skaters like Cory Juneau, Roman Pabich and Luiz Francisco. But no one is more focused on bringing home the title than the Brazilian superstar himself, Pedro Barros. Despite being one of the most dominant park skaters in the history, the title of world champion has eluded him so thus far.
In the women’s field, Brazilian Yndiara Asp is at the top of her game and eyeing her first VPS championship title after winning two events already this season. But competition is tougher than ever before, as skaters Sakura Yosozumi, and Kokona Hiraki have all elevated their skating this season in hopes to take home their own maiden VPS championship title.
Adding to the drama, all but one of the exciting Tour Wildcards are here to challenge the field, along with the stacked list of top-ranking challengers who have all fought their way through the season to earn points and make it here this weekend. See below for the final list of competitors.
Vans Park Series – Competitor Field
Salt Lake City
Men’s
Select Pros
Alex Sorgente (USA)
CJ Collins (USA)
Cory Juneau (USA)
Pedro Barros (BRA)
Roman Pabich (USA)
Tour Challengers
Luiz Francisco (BRA)
Tristan Rennie (USA)
Vincent Matheron (FRA)
Murilo Peres (BRA)
Clay Kreiner (USA)
Karl Berglind (SWE)
Vinicius Kakinho (BRA)
Jake Wooten (USA)
Cedric Pabich (USA)
Tour Wildcards
Chris Russell (USA)
Oskar Rozenberg Hallberg (SWE)
Ronnie Sandoval (USA)
Curren Caples (USA)
Men Regional Champions
Keegan Palmer, Oceania
Thalente Biyela, Africa
Alessandro Mazzara, Europa
Sota Tsuji, Asia
Jake Yanko, Americas
Women’s
Select Pros
Kisa Nakamura (USA)
Kokona Hiraki (JPN)
Poppy Starr Olsen (AUS)
Sakura Yosozumi (JPN)
Yndiara Asp (BRA)
Tour Challengers
Mami Tezuka (JPN)
Kihana Ogawa (JPN)
Autumn Tust (USA)
Grace Marhoefer (USA)
Shani Bru (FRA)
Spencer Breaux (USA)
Tour Wildcards
Lizzie Armanto (FIN)
Nora Vasconcellos (USA)
Women Regional Champions
Melissa Williams, Africa
Daniela Terol Mendez, Europa
Nyimas Bunga Cinta, Asia
Kody Tamanaha, Americas
Shanae Collins, Oceania Regionals (2nd Place)
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2019 VPS World Championships Schedule
Friday, September 6
Women’s Pre-lims and Semi-Finals
Men’s Pre-lims and Semi-Finals
Saturday, September 7
Women’s Finals
Men’s Finals
Thrasher Best Trick
The 2019 Vans Park Series World Championships presented by Utah Sports Commission are finally here, as renowned skaters from across the globe prepare themselves for the pinnacle event of park terrain skating next weekend. Hosted in the United States for the first time, this year’s VPS World Championships finale will be held at the brand-new Vans – Utah Sports Commission Skatepark, a legacy park terrain skateboarding facility designed and built for the Utah community by Vans and California Skateparks. The Salt Lake City park is the last of three new parks that Vans Park Series has built for skate communities around the world this 2019 tour season.
Attendees and global viewers will get a chance to see the ultimate roster of park terrain skaters from around the globe duke it out for the championship title. There will be no shortage of talent as fan-favorite skaters such as two-time VPS World Champions (2016 and 2018), Brighton Zeuner and Alex Sorgente, powerhouse Brazilians Pedro Barros and Yndiara Asp, and top-ranking skaters Roman Pabich, Cory Juneau, Tristan Rennie, Lizzie Armanto, Nora Vasconcellos, Mami Tezuka, Kokona Hiraki and more, showcase their talent at the highly-anticipated season finale.
Coming off an exciting event in Paris-Chelles, France, skaters Luiz Francisco, Tristan Rennie, Vincent Matheron, Karl Berglind, and Keegan Palmer have ended the 2019 season as the top five Tour Challengers in the rankings, having earned valuable points in the competitive race to secure a spot in the field with the invited Select Pros in the World Championships. On the women’s side, Mami Tezuka, Kihana Ogawa, Autumn Tust, Grace Marhoefer, and Shani Bruwill also advance to Salt Lake, after proving themselves as the fiercest five Tour Challengers in the women’s division.
On Tuesday, Sept. 3, Vans joined skate legend Tony Hawk, Utah Governor Gary Herbert and the Utah Sports Commission at the Utah State Capitol for a special press conference to announce the completion of the new skate park and preview the VPS World Championships. Following the press conference, the local Salt Lake City community was invited to get a first look at the new skatepark and drop in before the competition started as part of a special ribbon cutting ceremony and celebration.
The 2019 Vans Park Series World Championships is presented by Utah Sports Commission and is proud of their partnerships with Swatch, Flexfit and Adobe. The final event will be streamed live around the world from Salt Lake City Sept. 7 on vansparkseries.com and will feature commentary from Tony Hawk. Find the latest VPS event highlights here.
Vans Park Series is broadcasted live on vansparkseries.com
ABOUT VANS PARK SERIES
The 2019 Vans Park Series Pro Tour is the premier competitive platform for professional park terrain skateboarding. Spanning five countries over a five-month season, the series features four global qualifiers for men and women and culminates with the official Vans Park Series World Championships to be held in Salt Lake City, Utah in September. Showcasing an international roster of skateboarding’s elite pros, Vans Park Series awards a total series purse of $800,000 (USD) and advocates its principal commitment to prize parity for men and women.
Established in 2016, Vans Park Series’ mission is to inspire youth and grow skateboarding participation worldwide by defining a global foundation for park terrain competition that promotes the creative culture of skateboarding. Currently, there are two VPS-certified skateparks donated by Vans Park Series abroad, in Malmö, Sweden (2016) and São Paulo, Brazil (2018)—along with the recently renovated Vans Off The Wall Skatepark in Huntington Beach, CA, just a few miles from Vans’ global headquarters. Vans Park Series uniquely defines the park terrain format with its exclusive points system, judging guidelines and qualifying park terrain course criteria. Additional information and live webcast details will be available on the official Vans Park Series iOS app and online.
Follow the Vans Park Series on social media or sign up online now for the latest information on Vans Park Series events.
