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When Sour III dropped it was fair to say we were rendered more than a little speechless. Something which, when attempting to extol the virtues of a clip via the medium of the written word, isn't exactly the best position to find oneself! In fact, go back to June of this year and you'll see we even posed the question "what can be said about this?" As we observed at the time, if you didn't know what Sour was then we had nothing to say to you and if you did know what Sour was then you were well aware that the Norwegian centric group of mates is the zenith of skateboarding activity, meaning we had nothing to add to that either.
We then went on to explain that this was the long-awaited sequel to 2018's Sour Solution II, a video so magnificent it would have been perfectly legitimate for Sour to have closed up the skate industry for good following its release, such was the conclusiveness of their answer to the question "what is humanly possible riding a skateboard?"
But return they did and the result was this, Sour Solution III; a piece of work so consummate it rendered our veteran skateboard commentator bereft of suitable adjectives to chronicle the highlights contained within. Again, as we wrote in June, you just have to watch it and savour it for what it is; the third coming of skateboarding's apex team!
Do you reckon Jeremy Wray has recovered by now? It's been a while but it's still probably hard for him to swallow; 'Big Sky' proved once-and-for-all that Jake Wooten has the best frontside 360 in skateboarding!
Surely everyone remembers the ender-to-end-all-enders from his 2021 Santa Cruz part (the front three blunt on Burnside's infamous back wall, if it had somehow slipped your mind), as well as the viral kicker clip that went nuts earlier this year, so it's safe to say Jake had form with this trick, but he truly took his mastery of the three sixty ollie to unchartered heights in his amazing part for Red Bull.
A true connoisseur of his craft, we counted at least six variations of the front three in this clip but that's not to say it's the only manoeuvre in his repertoire; multiple kink handrails and the biggest of transition parks got handled every bit as comfortably as his favoured ariel.
If you've somehow slept on Jake Wooten and his 360's, you best familiarise yourself right now!
Blood Wizard celebrated Mami Tezuka's ascension to the pro ranks with the traditional full part treatment on Thrasher and it left us in no doubt of her worthiness for the honour; the lass ripped harder than you can possibly imagine!
Willing to slam her pint-sized carcass time after time into the most unforgiving concrete terrain, the Hikone, Japan born transition slayer earned every trick on film with the kind of hardened stoicism that only the truly great possess (and the rest of us lament).
With one of the best front smiths in the business, Mami destroyed every park and ramp that was put in her way. Whether the vertical inclines of the infamous Washington Street DIY or an invitational session at Pedro Barras' back yard pool complex, Blood Wizard's newest signature athlete refused to give up until she walked away with the trick under her belt. Honestly, her last three manoeuvres were completely un-fudge-withable (keeping the language family friendly), meaning there was literally nothing we could come up with to say to do them justice .
Just watch and you see why this part simply had to be on our end-of-year best-of list!
If Louie Lopez manages to Busenitz it, somehow going his entire career without being crowned Thrasher SOTY, then there really is no justice in the world. Don't get us wrong, we're not jumping on any anti-Tyshawn bandwagon but Louie absolutely slayed this year. Truth be told, from the long-haired flying foetus of those early Flip days to his long-limbed, perma-smiley 'total annihilation of every spot in front of him' man we know and love today, Louie has always been one of the very best.
Back in the summer we suggested starting his claim for the ultimate skateboarding accolade with half a year to go was possibly a tad premature but knowing what was to come from the Converse Cons ripper (and knowing he still somehow didn't win) suggests he neede to be priming his onslaught in January just to make sure the Thrasher bros take notice!
Of course, winning SOTY isn't everything and sometimes just enjoying the fruits of a man's labour is enough. This Spitfire part, filmed entirely on the campus of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, clocked in at nearly four minutes long and was chock-a-block with legit hammers. Even if the Cons part hadn't dropped, it still would have been a great 2022 for LouLo!
