Rune Glifberg

On June 3 2006, Rune Glifberg celebrated 20 years of involvement in Danish skateboarding with the Etnies team at Faelledparken Skatepark, featuring 80s style outfits and jam contests on launch ramp, freestyle, and wallride: maybe the best reason you've ever had to buy a ticket to Denmark. You heard it here first: Wallride jams are making a big comeback for 2006.

Actually Rune blew up the vert scene right as vert was starting to blow up all over again. 1996 was the year and 720's were the most anybody had rotated on vert. Skating was more about style than big air. That year Rune dropped in on a little comp called the Slam City Jam and walked out the big winner.

Everybody loves a big winner and the growing legions of transition skaters were talking about Rune. Yes, gone were the days of 39 millimeter wheels and riding your bearing shields. From pools to vert you couldn't help but smile when the Dane flowed effortlessly from the tightest transition to the biggest comp.

Rune's had marginal contest showings as of late but does that really matter? Skating is, and always will be about progression. The consistency he brings while sampling skateboarding's diversity is exciting and breathes new life into the jock jams format of current contests. One can only wonder what would happen if the X Games took today's pros to a backyard pool and let them duke it out in a snake session. One thing is certain: we'd see Rune ripping every minute of his allotted time. 20 years later, that's a damn good thing.