Chinese referee Tian Jun of the Skateboard World Championships: This is a new era of street skateboarding

We are witnessing a leap in the level of street skateboarding——Interview with Tian Jun, a Chinese referee at the World Skateboarding Championships

　　Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, February 13 (Reporters Wang Qinou, Su Xiaopo, Wang Dongzhen, Dong Yixing) On the 12th, the 2022 World Skateboard Championships ended in Sharjah, UAE.

After the Tokyo Olympics, the Chinese referee Tian Jun once again appeared in the judging seat of the highest international level skateboarding event, and participated in the scoring work of the street event of this World Championship.

This is also the first Paris Olympic points race this year.

Tian Jun believes that he has witnessed the rapid progress of street skateboarding through the competition; the Chinese team has set a record for the number of people participating in the World Championships, but there is still a long way to go to achieve a breakthrough.

　　During the one week from pre-competition practice to the determination of the gold medal, the referee team had to work 10 hours a day, but Tian Jun and his colleagues were always very excited: "I haven't seen many players for a while, and I found that they have improved really fast. Thinking and doing some 'tricks' that they weren't able to pull off before made for a really good game."

　　Danny Wainwright, the official commentator of the World Federation of Wheels and a skateboarding media person, also expressed the same point of view many times: "You may have seen these 'tricks' in blockbuster videos before, but you will never make them in the competition. Saw something like this."

　　The video blockbuster Wainwright refers to means that in the era when skateboarding was more niche and the global competition system and broadcast channels were still limited, skaters wanted to prove their level, mostly relying on recording and publishing in urban street scenes Video, so as to communicate with global boardmates.

"The most classic ending action in the video requires the most difficult 'stroke'. They will continue to shoot, and it may take a long time to do it." Tian Jun said.

　　The error tolerance rate of competitive games is much lower.

In the street project, the site refers to the environment of the real street, and combines props such as poles, platforms, and slopes with terrain.

According to the Olympic "2/5/3" competition system, each skater has two rounds of routing and five rounds of big tricks.

The line is 45 seconds of skating. The contestant freely chooses the props and makes a series of tricks. The big trick is that the contestant chooses any props in the field to complete a single trick. and final score as a player.

　　"Everyone has only limited opportunities, and the challenge for athletes is very great." Tian Jun said, for example, in the men's street final, American players Eaton and Jocelyn only scored valid points in the first round of the big trick stage, and the rest All four rounds were missed.

Both attempted to fly over one of the biggest faults in the field and do 'tricks', with Eaton doing back-to-back noseblunts (head and front wheels), while Jocelyn attempted a big spin (turning the board 360 degrees in the air) .

　　"As long as they do it once, they should be able to be the first and second." Tian Jun said, "But this is the case in high-level competitions, and the ranking at the last moment is hard to say."

　　Tian Jun was also impressed by the improvement of women's level: "If you watched the women's final in the Tokyo Olympics, you will find that this time the competition is already at a higher level than that time, and there are many moves close to men."

　　The direct manifestation is the increase in turning over.

This is a method of flipping the board first, and then using a part of the board, such as poles, platforms and other props.

The 15-year-old Brazilian player Leal is the best among them. She sacrificed kickflip bluntslide (sharp head and wheel) on the more difficult short game props successively in the semifinals and finals, and scored 87.22 points in both times. high score.

　　Many young female players also put the flipping action in the line, which surprised many veterans in the industry.

Veteran skater Tim O'Connor commented: "Doing a kickflip bluntslide in the route, this is already the pinnacle of my career. Look at Leal, how old is she?"

　　The level of street skateboarding has improved rapidly in a short period of time. Tian Jun believes that the Tokyo Olympics played a key role.

"After the Olympics, skateboarding will be truly displayed in front of the world, and it will encourage skaters to show on this stage." He said, "In the last Olympics, the host team, Japan, won three gold medals. Hands are actually a little unconvinced, and they may also want to have better results in this Olympic cycle."

　　As a referee, Tian Jun and his colleagues are happy to see greater creativity inspired by this healthy competition, and the scoring rules also encourage more innovation.

If the player does a similar move in the ultimate move, it will not be conducive to scoring.

　　The 12-year-old Japanese rising star and male street runner-up Onodera Yinyun suffered from repetitive movements.

His few tailblunt slides were almost impeccable, but after scoring 88.04 in the first round of the final, he never surpassed this score.

　　"A lot of his movements are based on tailblunt slide, but he just changed the way of getting up and down the props. And he has been doing it on the same pole, and there is no change of forward and reverse foot positions, so he won't get higher scores. " Tian Jun said, this is one of the rules unanimously agreed by the referee team.

　　From the street to the competitive arena, after skateboarding entered the Olympics, whether its spiritual pursuit will be changed has faced doubts.

But the skaters and the rule-makers of the event want to keep the core of the sport the same—eclectic, bold, expressive…

　　"Like Eaton and Jocelyn just mentioned, they couldn't make a 'trick' in the final, but they were unwilling after the game. They discussed and tried again together, and they all succeeded." At the scene, Tian Jun and Other skaters and referees witnessed this moment together. He felt that this was the charm of skateboarding: "Skaters' pursuit is not limited to competitions and rankings. The joy of making a move and breaking through is irresistible to skaters."

　　For the Chinese team, there is still a long way to go.

In the four events of men's and women's street style and bowl pool, Lan Junyi ranked 25th in the women's street, which is the highest ranking among the 19 contestants of the Chinese team.

Zeng Wenhui, sixth in the women's street of the Tokyo Olympics, stopped the qualifying competition for this event.

　　"Zeng Wenhui may be under a lot of pressure on the spot, but she has strength, and I believe she can perform well in the next few points matches." Tian Jun said, but it will take some time for the Chinese team to catch up with the top international level as a whole.

　　"For example, Japan has a dozen or so skaters who are very high-level in street sports. We can't even say that they are an intentional talent pool, because skateboarding is a natural thing for their children." Tian Jun said that the sports culture of many skateboarding powerhouses has been formed, and the popularity is very high, and the achievements are not achieved overnight.

　　xinhuanet