SKATE. Under the bridge it all went down. On a hot, steamy August Saturday in New York City, in gritty Coleman Park under the Manhattan Bridge, the Netherlands’ Sewa Kroetkov kicked, flipped and mannueled his way to victory at the fifth annual incarnation of Red Bull Manny Mania.

Manual skating defined

“Three minutes into the final he’d already blown up, I thought he was out of tricks,” told host and head judge Joey Brezinski. “Then he just kept pulling shit out. He earned that win.”

Sewa Kroetkov started strong and never let up in the final

“It’s an amazing experience, I’m just so happy right now,” told Sewa, still dripping with sweat after the seven-minute, no-holds-barred final. Beside topping a contingent of 31 of the best technical street skaters from around the word, for the effort he earned himself a spot in the pro final tomorrow. “To come to New York, to get to compete against the best skaters from around the world, what can you say. And now I get to go against the pros. This is the best contest.”

Joey Brezinski - the man behind Red Bull Manny Mania

“He’s going to be dangerous tomorrw,” summed up Joey.

“Sewo, he earned it. He was skating so good, so many technical tricks,” told runner-up from Italy, Francesco Marconato. “I couldn’t go anymore, it’s so hot and we were all skating so hard.”

Sewa Kroetkov flipping into first

An international shoot-out, the level of skating throughout the day was phenomenal, which speaks to where hard-core, technical street skating stands today. While guys from places like Kazakhstan, Slovenia, the U.S. and Denmark were throwing it down on the manuel box, heated games of SKATE were going down in the background.

31 of the best tech skaters from around the world

“Why you gotta break my heart?” hollered the UK’s Lloyd Mcleggon-Watkinson as Colombian Sebastian Gonzalez Obando dropped a switch bigspin heelflip on him while they were dueling.

“You gotta think, this is a really, really cool thing,” summed up Amerian Sebo Walker, who finished forth overall. “You get all these guys together, you get they’re all trading styles and tricks, and yeah it’s a contest, but it’s really cool to get all so many good skaters together from around the world.”

Joey congratulating Sewa after a hard fought final

Tomorrow the pros take the park. Joey Brezinski will be heading up a herd of 20 of the most elite manuel skaters, and of course, Sewa will be joining them. “Can’t wait,” says he. “It’s Saturday night in New York City, but I’ll have to try to get some rest.”

Practice starts tomorrow morning at 9:00am EST at Coleman Park, the comp begins at 12:00pm. Come on down if you’re in New York, or check us out on Facebook.

Red Bull
August 20, 2011
All Photos: Mirja Geh and Jody Moris / Red Bull

2011 Red Bull Manny Mania World Final Results
1. Sewa Kroetkov, Netherlands
2. Francesco Marconato, Italy
3. Mads Christensen, Denmark
4. Sebastian “Sebo” Walker, USA
5. Manuel Etchegoyen, France
6. Marten Rapp, Sweden
7. Robert Kocjan, Slovenia
8. Dmitrii Rodionov, Russia
9. Gonzalo Saravia, Argentina
10. Luis Guillermo Vascones, Peru
11. Sergio Munoz, Spain
12. Nuno Cardoso, Portugal
13. Alexandre Vaz Vieira, Brazil
14. Sebastian Gonzalez Obando, Colombia
15. Gavin Adams, South Africa
16. Lloyd McLeggon-Watkinson, United Kingdom
17. Dean Palmer, Australia
18. Maarten De Ryck, Belgium
19. Lozio Plamenov Dimitrov, Bulgaria
20. Sa Phep Tang, Switzerland
21. Paddy Maguire, Ireland
22. Carlos Alfredo Padilla Ruvalcaba, Mexico
23. Konstantinos Mavridis, Greece
24. Manuel Fernando Rivera Lois, Chile
25. Peter Forray, Hungary
26. Miroslav Knezevic, Bosnia-Herzegovina
27. Juan Pablo Imana Ruiz, Bolivia
28. Brandon Bandula, Canada
29. Danilo Pisanjuk, Serbia
30. Evgeniy Fedchuk, Kazakhstan
31. Dragomir Alexandru Stefan, Romania

Red Bull Manny Mania World Series 2011: The Amateur Finals

Yesterday the waiting came to an end when 31 amateur skaters from all over the world competed at the Red Bull Manny Mania World Finals 2011, at Coleman Park under the Manhattan Bridge in New York City. Manny Mania mastermind Joey Brezinski and the crowd witnessed skateboarding on the biggest stage. In the end it was Dutchman Sewa Kroetkov with his insanely difficult and technical tricks who left us in no doubt who is king of manual skating 2011. Check out all the highlights in episode five of the Red Bull Manny Mania World Series 2011...