American skateboarder Tia Pearl won the debut of Women’s Adaptive Street at Dew Tour using two canes as adaptive devices, against a field that also included WCMX competitors like 2nd place finisher Tracie Garacochea and 3rd place finisher Katherine Beattie.
Highlights of Pearl’s winning Run 2 included a kickflip, rock to fakie, and a layback powerslide. She also impressed in Run 3 with a long tic-tac manual.
“I put 20 years of work into getting to this day, and I’ve been watching the Dew Tour ever since it started back in 2005, so to be here and be with the pros on the same course is a lifelong dream come true,” Pearl said. “I hope somebody seeing this contest gets the same spark of freedom I got when I first saw skateboarders and decided to try it: I call my skateboard a rocketship because I don’t know how it’s so magical or where it might take me.”
The WCMX competitors in the field were sending firecracker manuals down the 11-stair set, carving the quarterpipes, and hitting drops down the Euro gap feature. They included some relative newcomers to the sport, as well as some WCMX pioneers like 3rd place finisher, known for being the first woman to backflip in a wheelchair.
Pearl said she believes this week will be the first of many adaptive skateboard events, and hopes it’s the first step on a path to bringing adaptive skateboarding and WCMX to the Paralympics.
“I think this week is exactly what we needed to showcase ourselves,” Pearl said. “People don’t know what we do. Just to show that you can skate with any level of ability is huge to represent. The goal is to have Dew Tour one day be a qualifying event for Paralympics, so for all of us to get this opportunity today is just huge.”
Women’s Adaptive Street Finals presented by Toyota Results:
- Tia Pearl (USA) 85.98
- Tracie Garacochea (85.04)
- Katherine Beatie (83.92)
- Alyssa Montenegro (USA) 83.00
- Lily Rice (GBR) 79.11
- Ilaria Naef (ITA) 78.00
- Kiana Clay (USA) 77.00
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