The World Round Up 2015 Recap

Another awesome year for The World Round Up Freestyle Skateboard Championships, this year definitely had its highlights – from local boy Andy Anderson winning the Amateur division, 12 year old Isamu Yamamoto placing 4^th in his first ever Pro contest, Guenter Mokulys taking the trophy home in his 100^th contest, and all the way to the new guy from the United States Derek Elliott busting out an insane, never been landed before, Jawbreaker in the Best Trick contest…

All the regulars were there like Rene Shigueto, Takashi Suzuki, Stephan Albert, Stefan Lillis Akesson, Mike Osterman, Per Canguru, Kaue Arouja, Christian Heise, Guenter Mokulys, and many more, and all the usual behind the scenes guys that help make the contest a success like Monty Little, Kevin Harris, Kolby Harris, AJ Kohn, Russ Howell, Jim Goodrich, Ryan Ellan, DJ Cuz-O, Lyle Chippaway and Tony Lum, and of course myself Hippie Mike doing the filming. It’s an amazing and unique event and as Kilian Martin states in an interview in the video “Freestyle was never meant to be judged” so this makes it extra tough to be the guys with the pens in hand. It’s amazing to watch these guys do the best that they can do in their own styles and hope that that will be better than the next guy and the best that he could do.

In the Amateur division Andy Anderson came out strong proving that he had been actually practicing Freestyle this year, his runs were solid, unique, and fully choreographed to the songs he had chosen. But he was facing 2 Brazilian machines – Kaue Arouja and Diego Pires Afonso. The top 3 of this category was uncatchable and it was definitely a battle to the finish. Somehow Andy took the gold medal by 1 point in the Finals. The crowd was stoked!!

In Pro it was just plain insane. Everybody was having killer runs and landing harder tricks than last year. Mike Osterman and Guenter Mokulys were bouncing back and forth on who was in 1^st over the weekend and both of them wanted the gold. But little 12 year old Isamu Yamamoto from Japan was sitting in 3^rd place after the Semi-Finals and you know he could taste it too…

Boards were breaking, trucks and kingpins were crumbling, and no one was ready to give up. This year felt the most intense for people actually wanting to win it. At his 100^th Professional Contest, the 51 year old German machine Guenter Mokulys squeezed back in to 1^st place during the Finals to take his 11^th World Title. 2^nd, 3^rd & 4^th place were all 1 point apart with Mike Osterman, Rene Shigueto and the little man Isamu Yamamoto. What a contest!!

Guenter added to his victory the next day by winning the 360 spin-off while Diego came out of nowhere in the Longest Coconut Wheelie competition hitting 80 feet long! Derek Elliott made history at the Round Up in the Best Trick Contest by stomping out a JawBreaker which is doing a handstand on top of your nose and top truck while your board is standing vertically on the floor. You need to watch the video to see it…

With true emotions in the air, the entire weekend was a hit. All participants had a blast, all spectators were super stoked, and the Freestyle Family tightened up once again.

Thanks to George Powell for coming out to watch the Finals and support this event, thanks to all the people that dedicate so much time to making it happen, and congratulations to Stefan Albert for winning the Henry Candiotti Award for being the smoothest skater of 2015…

Until next year, check out the vid

AMATEUR DIVISION

1. Andy Anderson – 263
2. Kaue Araujo – 262
3. Diego Pires Afonso – 251
4. Derek Elliott – 237
5. Dillanger Kane – 233
6. Mic Murayama – 226
7. Adam Flood – 224
8. Austin Shelton – 223
9. Daniel Trujillo – 216
10. Chadd Sinclair – 213

PRO DIVISION

1. Guenter Mokulys – 265
2. Mike Osterman – 260
3. Rene Shigueto – 259
4. Isamu Yamamoto – 258
5. Stefan “Lillis” Akesson – 254
6. Christian Heise – 245 / 243
7. Per Canguru – 245 / 238
8. Lucio Lima – 244
9. Jesse Whalen – 243
10. Daniel Garb – 242 / 241
11. Takashi Suzuki – 242 / 240
12. Shen “Dominick” Meng 240 / 225 / 224
13. Jacob Whitt – 240 / 225 / 222
14. Felix Jonsson – 238

NOTE: Ties were broken by using the 2nd
highest scoring runs and in some cases
the 3rd highest scoring runs.

LEGENDS FREESTYLE CLASSIC

1. Lynn Cooper
2. Bert Mathieson
3. Russ Howell
4. Tai Tai

BEST TRICK

Jesse Whalen

BEST HANDSTAND TRICK

Derek Elliott – Jaw Breaker

HENRY CANDIOTI SKATE-4-FUN AWARD

Stefan Albert

360 SPIN-OFF
Guenter Mokulys – 25 Spins

LONGEST COCONUT WHEELIE

Diego Pires Afonso – 80 Feet

CHAMPIONS OF HOPE AWARD

Stefan “Lillis” Akesson