PlayStation er officiel sponsor når verdens bedste skatere gæster Danmark, når Forum i København den 18-20 juli slår dørene op for Scandinavia Open World Cup Skateboarding 2003.
Her er hele pressemeddelelsen:
Forum Copenhagen , July 18-20 2003
In it’s third consecutive version in modern times, Scandinavia Open 2003 will again feature the world’s best skateboarders performing on an entirely new vert ramp and street course. Skaters and fans from more than 25 countries will gather for 3 days of state of the art skateboarding and celebrations.
We’ve come a long way since the early days of the Scandinavia Open. Once an eclectic happening in a construction tent in Helsinge more than hour from Copenhagen, it is now one of the most popular contests among the skateboarders on the World Cup Tour, that encompasses 14 events all over the world. The Forum is the ideal venue; with excellent location just 5 minutes from Central Copenhagen and it’s own Metro station, access is easy.
The Forum has a 6000 spectator capacity, and it’s smooth and enormous cement floor will be transformed into a world class skatepark by a few select professionals and an army of volunteers. On both the street course and the Vert ramp, tension is building. Despite strong showings, no American rider has yet won a Scandinavia Open event. 3 times Extreme Games winner, Rodil de Araujo Jr. won the Street contest in 2001 and French prodigy Bastien Salabanzi slayed the Street field in 2002.
Danish Vert superstar Rune Glifberg has won the Vert contest both years, in 2002 as a part of a campaign that saw him crowned asthe 2002 Overall Vertical World Champion. Will an American finally rise above the ever increasing number of European skateboarders who reinvent the technicality and array of daredevil tricks that skateboarders thrive on? The Scandinavia Open also attracts media attention that includes not only all of the major Danish newspapers and TV stations plus all of the international skateboarding publications, but also crews from localized publications from the whole world. The fast paced, highly skilled performances of today’s top skateboarders on ramps that allow them to skate to their full capacity provides imagery and motion that is more intricate, powerful and surpasses that of other, more traditional sports. Skateboarding is in your face and it’s birthplace, the street, hones and hardens every skateboarder worth his wheels. There are no free passes to the higher echelons of skateboarding. The riders in this year’s contest will include even more teams and nationalities than ever before, so fierce competition can be expected.
Friday the 18th of July, the Forum opens for practice in the morning. In the afternoon, spectators are allowed inside at a special price, and Friday night, a special Wild Card contest will see 10 rookie riders win access to the main competition. Saturday the 19th, all of the Street riders will compete to qualify for the Semi Finals. Since less than half of the competitors can advance, there will be no holding back for anyone that hopes to make it to:
Sunday, July 20th, where the Vertical competition starts the day off with their Qualification round, which advances the top 25 riders to the Vertical finals. This is followed by the Street Finals, where it’s anyone guess who will walk away as the winner; pretty much all of the top street skaters will be present. Immediately after the Street finals, the Vertical riders will raise the roof with their high flying death-defying stunts.
Scandinavia Open welcomes Sony PlayStation 2 as an official sponsor.