Red Bull Bowl Rippers ’20 Comes Down To Single Point
Down to the wire, literally. With just a single point separating 1st and 2nd, the 2020 Red Bull Bowl Rippers contest was certainly exciting. Due to COVID travel restrictions, European talent was at the forefront of this year’s competition and the skaters definitely delivered.
Press Release:
Watch highlights of Red Bull Bowl Rippers 2020 from Marseille right here
See how Jean Pantaleo became the new skating king of Marseille in this banging highlights edit from a special edition of our annual extravaganza at the French city’s hallowed Bowl Du Prado.
Written by Niall Neeson
What you’re about to watch is the full weekend edit from the Red Bull Bowl Rippers contest held in Marseille, France during the first weekend of October.
The first thing you’ll doubtless have realised is that there was no live broadcast this year – it was just logistically impossible. But with so many events put on ice, we thought we’d do what we could to create some continuity of skate energy through this challenging period we’re in.
Many adjustments were made to the format, number of invitees, production crew and layout to ensure that this year’s event focused on producing an all-action experience to keep everyone sparked on skating.
As well as France, the transition traditions of Germany, Spain, Denmark, Sweden and Italy were all represented in a socially distanced format.
Jean Pantaleo – Frontside Air by TEDDY MORELLEC/RED BULL CONTENT POOL
The hope was that with a heavier emphasis on domestic European talent, who could reach the event safely, we’d see some breakthrough skating – and that was just what happened.
Jean Pantaleo, who’s always one of the big draws for the bowl contest at Prague’s Mystic Cup, demonstrated a feel for the contours of the fabled terrain that only locals can truly know and which shone through in his total mastery of the space. His victory here was richly symbolic – he’s a Marseille local.
Danny Léon is always guaranteed to deliver and this weekend was no exception. How many other skaters can Backside Kickflip Stalefish over hips anywhere in the world? He has them on lock now and it’s genuinely amazing to witness.
X-Games gold medallist Ivan Federico was one of the weekend’s standouts, logging more hammers for the edit than almost anyone else, including Bluntsliding the highest extension in the park, while Jaime Mateu seems even more powerful and consistent than he was even a year ago, if his gargantuan Indy 540 Transfers are anything to go by.
Jaime Mateu – Indy Fakie by TEDDY MORELLEC/RED BULL CONTENT POOL
It’s worth noting that Mateu came within a single point of retaining his Red Bull Bowl Rippers crown here and he’s undeniably one of the great terrain talents ever to come out of Europe by this point. Energy guaranteed.
Karl Berglind is the wizard of Sweden’s giant Stapelbäddsparken skatepark and his gift for flow on huge concrete curves was on full display all weekend – check out the Nose Manual into the extension!
All told, you might say this was they year that Red Bull Bowl Rippers came home to Marseille, so big knucks to all the French skate agencies involved in helping us pull off this important event during this strangest of years.
Enjoy the action and check out how we managed to do it in our deep dive behind-the scenes video that we’ll bring you this time next week.
Red Bull Bowl Rippers 2020 results
- Jean Pantaleo
- Jaime Mateu
- Karl Berglind
- Danny León
- Ivan Federico
