Brazilian skater Felipe Nunes won the Dew Tour debut of Adaptive Park on Sunday in a World Skate-sanctioned event meant to help pave the way for bringing adaptive skateboarding and WCMX to the Paralympics.
Nunes opened Run 2 with a big kickflip drop in over a gap from a banked extension on course, then followed it up with the most technical run of the morning, including a backside flip, backside flip to tail, backside noseblunt, overcrook grind, blunt to fakie, backside 360 flip over a hip, and a frontside flip over another hip.
“I’m super happy to be here and to have the opportunity to skate here,” Nunes said, after also winning the Adaptive Street contest a little bit later in the morning. “I really love both street and park.”
A member of Tony Hawk’s Birdhouse Skateboards team, Nunes is among the world’s best-known adaptive skaters. Hailing from Curitaba, Brazil, he skates without prosthetic legs and uses his skateboard as his primary mode of transportation.
“I can’t wait to see skateboarding in the Paralympics,” he said, of the effort currently underway to debut, potentially as soon as the 2024 Paris Olympics. “I’m super down to go to Paralympics and to come back to Dew Tour and any other opportunities to compete and show the world what we do.”
Nunes said many of his heroes have been helping him in ways he’d never imagined. Ryan Sheckler was among the pro skaters on deck cheering during the Adaptive Street event.
“I’m super grateful for Tony Hawk’s help, Sheckler’s help, all my friends’ help,” he said. “It’s pure motivation to keep me going and breaking limits.”
The event was presented by Toyota and organized by Adaptive Action Sports, a longtime Dew Tour partner that also organizes the Adaptive Banked Slalom Snowboard races at winter Dew Tour events.
Justin Bishop, a blind skater who skates using a cane with a ball tip and several beeper devices as adaptive tools while he’s in the bowl, finished 2nd. His Run 3 was his most technical, with highlights including a blunt to tail to revert from the center island feature, a nosepick pop-in, and an ollie to fakie.
“It feels amazing,” Bishop said. “My body’s going through emotions from happiness to tears because everyone’s worked so hard to be here.”
Other highlights of the contest included 3rd place finisher Vinicios Sardi’s frontside flip an alley-oop 360 transfer, and 5th place finisher Aaron “Wheelz” Fotheringham’s WCMX gap drop-in from the Toyota bank extension.
“It’s just so rad to see other skaters with visual impairments out here, skaters with prosthetics, and wheelchairs, all these people not letting anything stand in the way of having fun,” Bishop said. “To me it sends a message: as long as you’re on a board or in the parks, this skateboarding community is going to accept and love you.”
Adaptive Park Results:
- Felipe Nunes (BRA) 96.00
- Justin Bishop (USA) 93.00
- Vinicios Sardi (BRA) 90.13
- Brandon White (USA) 80.08
- Aaron Fotheringham (USA) 78.08
- Evan Strong (USA) 75.18
- Oscar Loreto Jr. (USA) 70.22
- Daniel Pelletier (USA) 70.08
- Mike Rogers (USA) 69.00
- Mike Minor (USA) 68.00
- Daniel Edmonson (USA) 66.05
- Chad Rivera (USA) 62.96
- Andy Hernandez (USA) 62.05
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