Extreme games: Vertical horizons

Joseph Boo

One skipped last year’s Gravity Games because of an injury. The

other is fighting through pain to go to this year’s event. But vert

skateboarders Rune Glifberg and Lincoln Ueda, both Costa Mesa residents,

are ready to hit the half pipes at the massive made-for-television

alternative sports festival, July 15-23 at Providence, R.I.

Ueda, 26, plans to compete in the vert (short for vertical) event, in

which skaters propel themselves up and down the semicircular half pipe,

spinning, splaying and sometimes sprawling as they try to perform

athletic and artistic maneuvers to impress both the judges and the crowd.

He says he’ll do so, even though his injury could be serious.

He hurt his posterior cruciate ligament recently, prevenging him from

heading to Europe. He was still awaiting a full prognosis.

“Hopefully I’ll be healthy for the Gravity Games,” Ueda said.

Even though he’s unsure of his knee, Ueda claims he will definitely be

competing.

“I’m down for it,” he said. “That’s why I didn’t go to Europe. I went to

the doctor and he said with physical therapy I’ll be able to skate at the

Gravity Games for sure.”

It was an ankle injury that kept Glifberg, 25, from competing in last

year’s inaugural contest. He shattered his ankle right after the ESPN X

Games. A metal plate was inserted into Glifberg’s left ankle and a long

scar poses as a graphic reminder of the dangers of his sport.

“I’m just starting to get back on track,” Glifberg said.

So the Gravity Games, in a way, will be a way for both Ueda and Glifberg

to show a national audience how they’re recovering from their injuries.

They are two of 14 competitors in the vert skateboard competition.

Before his broken ankle, Glifberg was one of the top riders in his

specialty. He finished 1998 with a No. 7 overall World Cup Skateboarding

ranking in vert competition.

He won the Slam City event and he had a second- and third-place finish in

five years at the X Games, the event that brought alternative sports to

the masses five years ago.

Glifberg has slowly returned this season and had skated in four events so

far, pushing his North American ranking to No. 15. He was the top

performer in this year’s ESPN’s B3 at Lake Havasu, Ariz., qualifying for

the Gravity Games in the process.

Even though he had to sit out most of 1999, Glifberg kept himself busy.

Besides working for a skateboard company which also sponsors him,

Glifberg is involved in a company which produces and distributes

skateboarding videos.

“We make videos that go out all over the world,” he said. “We made two so

far, and we’re getting ready for the third one. It’ll come out sometime

next summer.”

Both Glifberg and Ueda ended up in Costa Mesa for the same reasons

countless people travel west: the promise of better opportunity.

Glifberg, who grew up in Copenhagen, Denmark, was a pro skateboarder in

England. But the California sun and the skateboarding media beckoned, so

when the company which sponsored him in the United Kingdom relocated to

Huntington Beach, Glifberg followed.

“You kind of have to be in Southern California for your skateboarding

career or your company because Southern California is the skateboarding

mecca of the world,” Glifberg said. “All the magazines and all the videos

are here.”

Ueda, who was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, came to California for similar

reasons, even though he found regular success on the Brazilian circuit.

“I rolled the dice,” Ueda said about the move. “One of my dreams was

coming to California, to skate and check out the scene. In Brazil I used

to see the magazines and videos, so I wanted to check it out.”

Ueda was encouraged by another Brazilian who moved to California, Bob

Burnquist, who won the vert skateboarding event at the inaugural Gravity

Games last year.

“Bob came first and he was like, ‘Let’s try to do it,’ ” Ueda said. “

‘I’m getting a lot of coverage and a lot of sponsors and you should try

it.’ I did, and luckily, I’m doing well.”

Although he has yet to win an event since coming to America, Ueda was the

No. 5 overall World Cup Skateboarding vert competitor in 1999, with

consistently high finishes. Besides the 11th place at last year’s Gravity

Games, he was second at Crail in Brazil last year, fifth at the X Games

in 1999 and 1997, and third in the X Games vert doubles in 1998. He is

No. 11 in North America this year.

If Ueda’s knee holds up at the Gravity Games, he will continue on to

Germany, then to the X Games, then back to Brazil. He’ll continue for as

long as he can.

“I’m going to keep skating until my body won’t let me,” Ueda said. “It

all depends on the physical and mental stuff.”

Glifberg skipped the recent Alp Challenge in Innsbruck, Austria for

personal reasons, but he will fly to Europe for three events, including

the Globe Shoes World Cup in Dortmund, Germany. He will then return to

America for his first Gravity Games.

“I don’t know what to expect, but I’m sure it’ll be a lot like the X

Games,” Glifberg said, “although I heard (the Gravity Games) is a little

better. They looked at what the X Games were doing wrong and tried to

correct it. And there’s a lot of prize money. The crowds gets amped up

when they look at it like a real sport and everybody will be giving their

best. I know I’ll be giving 110 % out there.”