More than a thousand skaters from 41 countries take part in the Grand Skate Tour skateboarding festival

The international skateboarding tournament Grand Skate Tour (GST) ended in Moscow's Gorky Park.

During the GST, more than a thousand skaters from 41 countries took part in sports, cultural and educational events of the third International Forum-Festival. However, skaters from 5 countries (Argentina, Bulgaria, Brazil, Colombia, Russia) took part in the men's and women's finals.

This year the strongest among men was the Argentinean Matias Dell Olio. The second place went to Martin Atanasov from Bulgaria; the third place went to Russian Evon Martinez.

Jasmine Alvarez from Colombia took the first place in the women's scoring. Silver and bronze went to Russians Alexandra Timonina and Tatiana Styrova, who won Game of S.K.A.T.E. the day before the final.

"We are very pleased with the festival and the fact that we had guests from 41 countries. Thanks to the Moscow City Department of Culture, the Grand Skate Tour was so successful in Gorky Park. All GST events and activities were covered not only in Russian but also in foreign media. Information about the skateboarding holiday is still actively spread in social networks, and we see an incredible number of likes, comments, reposts; every day we receive hundreds of emails and messages from different countries, in which people express their desire to participate in the GST. This is another confirmation that the GST is a success, that skateboarding really unites people from all over the world," said Ilya Vdovin, President of the Russian Skateboarding Federation.

He also added that the judges who evaluated the competition represented Colombia, South Africa, India and the Russian Federation.

"Looking ahead to next year, we plan to take the competition outside Russia, because initially the word 'tour' in the name suggests that it will be several locations. And these are not just plans, but negotiations that are already at a fairly advanced stage. It concerns several countries - Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Egypt, South Africa"

Ilya Vdovin President of the Russian Skateboarding Federation

Akio Augusto, a skateboarder from Brazil, spoke about his journey in the sport: Augusto Akio, a skateboarder from Brazil, spoke about his journey in the sport: “When I start skating I was 7 years old. It started as any other play. It helped me a lot, because I was shy, I wasn’t good at making friends at school. And skateboarding changed me. My parents always support me. I truly love this sport. I do it all with my energy”.

During the Grand Skate Tour 2023 from 27 August to 2 September, a series of lectures and seminars of foreign guests took place at the educational centre, as well as master classes and excursions around Moscow. In addition, a forum was held as part of the third International Forum-Festival of New Olympic Sports and Positive Youth Subcultures; street skateboarding sessions were organised.

The DIY-spot was completed and exhibitions dedicated to skate culture were opened. In addition, there were ramp demonstrations with national team leaders from Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, Best Trick and Game of S.K.A.T.E. contests.