12-year-old Skateboarding Prodigy, Gui Khury, Lands First Ever 1080 in Competition
A 12-year-old skateboarder managed to land an incredible, first ever, vert 1080 in front of skating legend Tony Hawk in competition.
[July 18, 2021: Jess Hardiman]
A 12-year-old skateboarder managed to land an incredible vert 1080 in front of skating legend Tony Hawk.
Young skating prodigy Gui Khury, who is from Brazil, showed off his best moves in the Pacific Skateboard Vert Best Trick competition at this year's Summer X Games.
Khury wowed the crowds by pulling off an amazing 1080 spin - a trick performed on a vertical skateboard ramp, in which the skater makes three full rotations while airborne.
It's previously been described as 'the Holy Grail of all skateboard tricks'.
He went on to win the gold medal, in turn becoming the youngest gold medalist in the history of the X Games.
His feat also marks the first such trick ever to be completed successfully in competition.
Posting about his success on Instagram, the youngster said: "Vert Best Trick @xgames I'm super stoked no words to explain my feeling."
But to make things even more impressive, Khury completed the trick in front of none other than Tony Hawk, who was also competing in the Vert Best Trick competition.
Yep, the 12-year-old kid beat one of the skating world's most famous veteran stars.
Thankfully, the old timer had nothing but praise for the Khury, congratulating his worthy opponent on the win in an Instagram post.
Hawk, 53, said: "Jumped into the Best Trick event at @xgames this afternoon and managed to make a few things. So fun to be back in the mix! Congrats to @gui_khury on pulling a 1080 for the [gold medal]!"
Khury also hit headlines last year when he beat a record set by Hawks 21 years previously, having posted a video online that showed him completing that famous 1080 spin on a vert ramp.
It had been more than two decades since legend Hawk performed the fabled 900, the very first by a pro skater.
Hawk had been 31 when he landed the trick after 10 failed attempts at the 1999 X Games, more than nine years before Gui was even born.
And while other skaters have landed the 1080 on numerous occasions since, with American Mitchie Brusco even making the 1260, they have all been performed on a 'mega ramp', which lends itself to the trick.
The official X Games account shared the footage on Twitter, writing: "Gui Khury just became the first skateboarder in history to land a 1080 on a vert ramp! The Brazilian #XGames athlete is only 11 years old. Khury was born almost 9 1/2 years after @tonyhawk first landed the 900 at X Games."
Reposting the clip on his own Instagram story, Hawk hit out at the Olympics for not including the discipline in the upcoming games.
He said: "@gui_khury TEN EIGHTY!!!!... BUT VERT ISN'T IN THE OLYMPICS."
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