With skateboarding’s recent induction into the Olympics, the sport has seen mountains of new mainstream success. In light of this, the Utah Sports Commission has taken an interest in establishing Utah as a skate capital, and adding it to the slew of sports that Salt Lake City has become a hub for. This commission has already seen great success in supporting over 1050 events in Utah, with major contributions to such competitions like the MMA, AMA Supercross, and the 2002 Winter Olympics. So when skate legend Tony Hawk started talking about wanting to establish a new vert competition, it didn’t take long for him to land in Utah.
This event that he was designing; he wanted it to be a call to all vert skaters both young and old. He didn’t just want another competition for the newer, status hungry pros, but also a demonstration from the legends that helped build skateboarding. Thus, in 2021 the Utah Sports Commission was happy to present Tony Hawk’s Vert Alert (THVA), a free event held at the University of Utah. THVA saw dozens of riders battle it out for podium placement in both men’s and women’s contests, and to top it off, Hawk and other legends, like Steve Caballero and Christian Hosoi, showed off decades of vertical innovation in a way that hasn’t been seen since the 90s.
Three years later, THVA has seen continued success with new sponsors, more riders, and the addition of a “best trick” contest. It has been so successful, in fact, that it has joined international contests like those from World Skate (the current organizer of the Olympic Skateboarding Qualifiers) as a direct qualifying competition for the 2024 X-Games in Ventura, California. This year, the THVA winners were as follows: Gui Khury, Moto Shibata, and Mitchie Brusco in the men’s finals, and Arisa Trew, Mizuho Hasegawa, and Asahi Kaihara in the women’s. And as it stands, the six winners from THVA are all competing in the X-Games Skateboard Vert Best Trick and Final events.
If you’re following the X-Games, you already saw that Moto Shibata took second in the Men’s Skateboard Vert Finals on Friday, while Gui Khury and Mitchie Brusco followed close in 4th and 5th respectively. They all still have an opportunity to take Men’s Vert Best Trick tonight, with Women’s Best Trick following after. And finally, the Women’s Vert Finals are set to happen tomorrow at 2pm.
