Skating - Olympians Claim Victory at the 2023 Street Lines Skate Tournament

Monday 2 October 2023 - The third edition of the Street Lines Skate Tournament, presented by LW Mag and Dragon Energy Drink in association with Dickies, Garmin and GoPro, took place at the legendary Thrashers Skatepark in Pretoria over the weekend (Saturday 30 September). Olympians Boipelo Awuah (Kimberley) and Brandon Valjalo (Johannesburg) took top honours in the Women’s and Men’s divisions.

70 Skateboarders (20 Women and 50 Men) from around Africa were met with perfect weather conditions as they competed through the qualifying rounds, looking to score enough points to make it into the finals. The level of competition at this year’s event was at an all-time high as skaters competed for their share of the R50 000.00 prize purse, Garmin Instinct 2X Smartwatches and Dickies apparel.

In the qualifying rounds, each skater had two 45-second runs with the top scoring run counting, while in the finals, each skater had two 45-second runs along with four Best Trick attempts, with the top scoring run and top three best tricks counting towards their final score. Judges considered consistency, difficulty, style, and use of park when making decisions that would see 7 Women and 15 Men advance to the finals.

In the Women’s division, defending Street Lines champion Boipelo Awuah took the top step of the podium for the third time. Her use of park, consistency and technical tricks scored her above the rest of the field. It was a closely fought battle for 2nd place between Natalie Bramley, also from Kimberly, and Caitey Karagiannidis (Johannesburg), whose progressions over the last year impressed all. Ultimately, Bramley scored 2nd place, with Karagiannidis rounding off the podium in 3rd.

After 10 Heats of qualifying in the Men’s division, the final 15 took to the course. Defending 2022 Street Lines champion Moses Adams (Cape Town) was on form throughout the day, but mistakes in his final runs put him out of the running for 1st place. Adams clawed back to a 3rd place finish with decent scoring best trick attempts. Thalente Biyela (Cape Town) put down some exciting, high-impact runs that had the crowd screaming for more. Paired with a huge 360 air best trick over the box jump, Biyela slotted himself into 2nd place. Returning from competition overseas and competing in Street Lines for the first time, Brandon Valjalo solidified the overall win with flawless runs stacked with technical ticks.

The day ended with the Best Trick jam, which saw a host of competing skaters participate in the 20-minute jam session down the stair-set featuring rails and hubbas. Through the chaos, Kyle Keshwa took the win with a Backside 270 Frontside Lipslide to take home the Best Trick title and a GoPro HERO11 MINI.

Street Lines organiser Ryan van der Spuy says, “Street Lines continues to grow from strength to strength. I was hugely impressed with the calibre of skaters competing this year and the progression. This event is for the skaters for skateboarding, and our focus is to grow and push the development of this amazing sport in our country. A heartfelt thank you goes out to all involved, the competing athletes and our event partners for making the 2023 edition the success it was. We can’t wait to see what 2024 holds.”

2023 Street Lines Skate Tournament Results:

Women

• Boipelo Awuah – 28.00
• Natalie Bramley - 26.50
• Caitey Karagiannidis – 25.00
• Janine Louw – 21.00
• Thabiso Mashiyakgomo – 10.00
• Thato Moet – 4.50
• Lindi Jane – 3.00 

Men

• Brandon Valjalo – 46.80
• Thalente Biyela – 45.20
• Moses Adams – 41.20
• Kyle Keshwa – 35.00
• Ashton Banwell – 34.50
• Terrence Khumalo– 32.80
• Karl van Antwerp – 32.30
• Marcelino Rodrigues – 31.70
• Siye Matshalilange – 31.50
• Jean-Marc Johannes – 31.30
• Devandre Galant – 30.30
• Byron Rhoda – 25.00
• Ashwyne Dames – 21.00
• Shongani Mhlongo – 9.70
• Henjinaldo Saaiman– 9.30