Most popular kid in the class (of action sports) © Concretedisciples.com
Sandro Dias
Aug 16 2006 / Los Angeles, CA
|
||||||||||
For those of you who don’t know, skateboarding is even bigger in Brazil than it is in the States. It’s second in popularity only to soccer, which is saying a lot. In Brazil, Bob Burnquist is more popular than Jesus, who is slightly less popular than soccer legend Pele. And right behind Jesus, in 4th place on the popularity scale, is the always cool, calm and ever-smiling Sandro Dias.
Dias is on fire in 2006. He started off a little slow with a 19th place finish in Vert at the Louisville Dew Tour. But, apparently that motivated him to step it up, because he came back to Denver with a vengeance. And if it hadn’t been for the audaciously huge airs of Shaun White, Dias would have taken home 1st place. As it was, Dias’ stunning final run that included a backside 540 to tail was enough to take second. Dias is currently 6th overall with 89 points total.
But, even that’s not enough for Dias. He placed 1st at the recent X-Games in Los Angeles showing everyone, including the Flying Tomato, that he can and will dominate Vert this season. He’s capable of anything and everything, from big, juicy airs to super technical lip tricks. In fact, he’s the only guy in Vert right now to have a competition-ready 900 in his quiver of tricks. So, it’s definitely possible that he can edge out White, Lasek, Burnquist and Macdonald for the Dew Tour title. Portland will be a good test.
Dias has been pro for nearly 10 years – he’s at the ripe old age of 29. His attitude about skating is refreshing. It’s always about fun for Dias. He skates every day, and he says, "it's not practice for contests, it's because I like it. It's really fun. I can hang out with my friends on the ramp. It's the best time of the day." He’s been skating since he was a kid in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He and his best friend used to borrow the neighbor’s skateboard and take turns learning tricks. But, once his father got him a board of his own the skate world slowly started to take notice.
He was competing in Europe by 1997. By 1999 he was a regular in the X-Games and Gravity Games finishing in the top 20. In 2000, Dias finished the year in the top 10 WCS. In 2003, he won both the World and European Vert Championships. Last year he finished 8th overall in the Dew Tour standings. But, that was ahead of Shaun White, and we all know how well he’s doing this year.
