Have you heard the one about the Frenchman, the Finlander and the Swede? Well it´s no joke, Friday´s Skateboarding Vert final kicked off from El Puerto Olimpico in Barcelona with some pretty intense skating and some fun in the sun. It turns out that we came all the way to Barcelona, Spain to not see a single Spaniard competing in Vert. Go figure. It was all about the Scandinavians today as a couple of kids, Jocke Olsson of Sweden and Jussi Korhonen of Finland battled it out for the one shot at making it to Philadelphia and the Summer X Games 2001, as well as a nice $2,300 check.

A Frenchman from Annecy, France by the name of Terence Bougdour and who rides for Globe, Billabong and TSG took home the third place medal. This kid was nailing some big tricks on three flawless runs but I guess it just wasn't enough for the judges. A couple of big 360 varials, an impressive 540 and a backside impossible absolutely lit it up. This guy was great to watch and was so close to representing France in Philadelphia this summer.

Jussi Korhonen came all the way from Finland for a chance at the Philly Summer X Games and $2300 US dollars - that's 434,700 pesetas!

Second place went to a kid from Malmo, Sweden with some serious height issues. Jocke Olsson was blowing everyone out of the water height-wise by going at least 5-10 feet above the rest of the crew. On each run he dropped in from the roll-in and threw some massive backside airs and multiple 540's. He was sticking to huge aerial and spin tricks but was definitely impressive. Apparently the judges wanted more of a techy run for a trip to the X Games. Jocke rides for Flip, Billabong, Arnette, Globe and Redbull.

In the end it was Finlander Jussi Korhonen who skated away with the win, earning himself first place, a wad of cash and a ticket to Philly to compete in the Summer X Games this year. His run was filled with a good variety of tricks that obviously impressed the judges. He was one of the only guys out there who was rocking the crowd. Korhonen, who rides for Vans, Osiris, Trap and Dope, nailed three runs of flawless skating with back to back 540's, a couple of 360 varials, and a huge Madonna, among others, to take the cake.

In his own words about his run Korhonen said, “It had kind of three parts to it. A combination of three technical tricks in the beginning and then I got that wired everytime so I was happy about that. It was easier to continue. And then I was trying to do something simple in the middle, maybe some 360's, a Madonna, that sort of thing. In the end I wanted to have one or maybe two more technical tricks and one no-handed. That was all I wanted you know? Some spins, some varials, some flips, all sorts of rotations and then as many grabs as many variations as possible. I wanted to have variety in the run.”

I think it worked for him.

El half pipe de el mar en Espana...or something

When asked if he was psyched to be heading to Philadelphia and the X Games, Korhonen had this to say, “Yeah I am. The Finish band H.I.M. is playing there so I'm looking forward to seeing them. It should be good. I've never really been to the East coast, just in Tampa (Florida) so it's going to be a cultural experience as well. I'm looking forward to it.”

It seems word has got around that H.I.M. as well as CKY is going to be playing at a party being set up by Jackass star Bam Margera and ESPN at the Trocadero in Philly during the X Games. That party is going to be sick, we'll keep you posted.

I asked Jussi if he was planning to learn anything new to bust out on all of the other pros this summer in Philly and he said he's working on a frontside heelflip indy that he's pretty stoked about. He just needs to figure out where it will go in his already impressively technical run.

Other notes from the competition:
They had this crazy sounding Spanish guy doing the event announcing and he just could not get the crowd going. He kept screaming "Go, go, go, go" when the guys were dropping in, like you hear on the international soccer matches when they scream "Goala, goala, goala" after making a goal. It was strange.

The ramp was a little soft after a hard rain the day before. It's supposed to be in the high eighties all week but the sky dumped a few inches of rain the day before and the ramp had not dried out yet. I think this was part of the reason the guys weren't going super huge.

Now that you just wish you were here to see all this mad air and sick trickin', check out the photo galleries to see all the action you're missing.

Following the competition was a Pro Demo featuring the likes of Bucky Lasek, Max Defour, BMX´ers Jamie Bestwick, Jay Miron, and Dave Osato. It was a pretty weird event as well as BMX´ers, In-liners and skaters all shared time on the ramp.

Official Results provided by World Cup Skateboarding:

1. Jussi Korhonen - 89.67
2. Jocke Olsson - 87.00
3. Terence Bougdour - 85.67
4. Mathias Ringstrom - 84.00
5. Adil Dyani - 76.33
6. Pete King - 72.67
7. Jean Postec - 70.67
8. Nicky Guerrero - 69.67
9. Daniel Beck - 68.33
10. Jurgen Horrwarth - 68.00
11. Florent Viart - 67.00
12. Sebastian Daurel - 65.67
13. Bob Joosten - 63.67

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