Euro/Ditch Frontside Flips #1: Collin Provost

 

This was one of the craziest things I've seen in a while. I thought Anthony Schultz and Chad Bartie already stretched skating over full fences to its limits, but Collin Provost's ender from Emerica MADE goes above and beyond with an insane frontside flip over a seemingly-impossible Euro/Ditch gap. You know it's enormous when just about everyone else skates the lip of the ditch. If you haven't seen his part in MADE or the whole video for that matter, get the DVD and get on it ASAP!

Euro/Ditch Frontside Flips #2: Rick McCrank

Again this post is coming a little late, so it's only fitting that it's about Mr. McCrank. Not only was it a pleasant surprise to see Rick skating in the Pretty Sweet Tour, but it was made even better because he was seriously killing it! Even though it may not make up for his lack of footage in Pretty Sweet itself, I was so pumped to see Rick's playful, casual, and totally rad style across spots in the US. Quick to forget how good Rick is (check Menikmati for proof), the reminder of his skills in the Pretty Sweet Tour came at full force. This frontside flip in particular is really incredible not only because the gap is huge and pretty sketchy, but because how nonchalantly Rick makes it look. I keep reflecting on Brandon Westgate's front shove it across this gap from MADE and think that it looked a lot harder in that case. Something about Westgate's style to me shows the difficulty of tricks as they really are, which is awesome to watch. But at the same time, it makes something so easy-looking like Rick's frontside flip that much more impressive.

Euro/Ditch Frontside Flips #3: Axel Cruysberghs

Etnies dropped AB&A a couple weeks ago with a really cool trio of European skaters. Opening up the video was Axel Cruysberghs with plenty of hammers and a fast, ripping style. Loads of fun to watch. One trick that stuck out to me (and ultimately helped inspire the theme for this week's posts) was his frontside flip out of a random Euro-gap (fittingly named here)/parking lot ditch out and over the long sidewalk gap to the street. The picture above shows that the sidewalk is quite large and Axel is soaring high, but the slow motion on the second angle of the trick really drops your jaw. Axel was hauling coming into the bank and it paid off. He boosted higher than normal, controlledly caressed the board to catch it, and floated on with the board unwavering at his feet. There's something about the power and gracefulness behind this trick that really made it stick out in Axel's sick part.
And here's the kicker (pun intended): look at the first post from this week with Justin Brock's frontside flip. I'm pretty sure it's the same gap! There must be a sign at the base of the gap saying "please frontside flip me"...

Euro/Ditch Frontside Flips #4: Jeremy Leabres

Probably the most under-recognized trick in Jeremy Leabres standout first part for Emerica's Made was his enormous ditch/Euro gap frontside flip. (Watch the full video here and look at 2:38 if you don't remember the trick.) What's crazy to me is that this was the same gap that Westgate ended the video with when he 360 flipped it! Now I don't remember seeing the gap before but I definitely won't forget it after Westgate's crazy ender. But rewatching the video shocked me when that gap appeared underneath Jeremy's frontside flip. The angle doesn't do the frontside flip justice by itself; the clip works extremely well in Jeremy's part as a whole, but thinking of the trick itself, it's so much gnarlier than it appears. Here's to recognizing Jeremy's huge frontside flip and appreciating it a bit more.

Euro/Ditch Frontside Flips #5: Justin Brock

As seen in Nike SB's latest offering, Chronicles 2, Justin Brock opens up his part with a music-less but gnarly nonetheless frontside flip over a sweet parking lot Euro Gap. That moment from the car tow-in to the lowering arms in relief for landing the sick trick all build up perfectly as the music and Justin's rugged part begin to play. Check out the frontside flip and the rest of the video here at 17:15 (while it lasts anyway).

This Week: Recent Frontside Flips from Euro-Ditches

I apologize for the late posting but it's coming no matter what! This week will be a quick and specified topic because of time constraints. Lately (as in the past 3/4 months or so) I've noticed a decent amount of big frontside kickflips out of ditches over pretty hefty euro gaps, or something similar. Could it be the next big trend? Who knows...but either way I'd just like to point out some of these Euro-Ditch Frontside Flips that I've noticed and been stoked by over the past months.
An honorable mention for this category goes to Jordan Hoffart and his ender from Jordan's Day Hoff. Huge gap, loads of speed, and endless power from Jordan. Stay relentless with those gnarly gaps!