This contest was for sure a "best of the best" contest. Four of Sweden's top freestylers plus one local very talented streetskater/flatland freestyler met up in Borlänge, a city three hours by car north of Stockholm. The event was held last September 6 outside the skateshop FourSouls located at a big shopping mall. The aim was to give the crowd at Borlänge a skateshow to remember.

Now, you might think: only five entrants? Well, Sweden is a small country, having almost the same area as California but with only 9 million population.

As far as I know a very very small percent of swedes are professional skateboarders. Many have gone on to other sports such as tennis, skiing and golf. Despite the insignificant number, there are a few noteworthy flatland skateboarders who are still very passionate about the sport and thus continue to skate at a very high level. These dedicated few have taken on the mission of disciplined practise to be able to deliver a 2 minute routine. Mind you, not just a run of the mill routine, but one that is packed with awesome flips, breathtaking wheelies, amazing footworks and so much more.

However, the high level of Swedish freestylers might scare off some beginners.

This is probably the reason why there were no entrants in the beginners' division Those who had planned to join in that division opted instead to just sit down and watch the freestylers rip that asphalt. I am pretty sure that they enjoyed what they saw and hopefully, got more inspired to continue to improve their skating skills.

This contest was more of an invitational contest, as Sweden currently, but not for long, (if we can help it) lack the organization to keep track of all beginner freestylers who pop up all over Sweden and the rest of the world for that matter.

One great thing about this contest, inspite of the few contestants, was that it became a very interesting show for the crowd.

When I got to the contest area, I met Uffe, who intended not to compete as he had broken his Reverse deck from a hard landing doing a 180 fingerflip. Luckily, I had one extra deck and gave it to him. Uffe was the first one out and he blasted off some very nice shove its, kickflips and 50/50's. Afterwards, he complained about his cardiovascular fitness, that it is quite hard to maintain the intensity for 2 minutes. I think everyone agreed with him, but this is an integral part of the sport. To be able to stay on and keep up the heat of a 2 minute routine. After all, skateboarders are athletes and so physical fitness must count and be given importance and attention.

Denis Sopovic slammed very hard right before the contest, and that definitely affected his performance.

He was not able to concentrate much and this caused him to make a few too many mistakes. But all was not lost as he came up anyways with some nice wheelies and he just flowed around the entire area.

Johannes is the newcomer amongst the inner circle of Swedish freestylers. It takes a lot to be part of this rarefied group (ahem), but Johannes has proven beyond reasonable doubt that he belongs there. With tricks such as impossibles, handstand kickflips, and 360 triple railflips, no one was about to argue whether he belongs or not.

As for myself I felt that this surface was like common demo surface, only a bit larger than usual, to accommodate spectators.

I agreed though with the others that spectators are more important than perfect surfaces, (if there is even such a thing) at least when it comes to promoting the sport. There was no announcer for the contest so I lived up to my reputation - to sometimes talk quite a lot. There was no microphone so it was more like screaming. So maybe my reputation will change from talking too much to screaming too much. By the way, I cannot stop myself from mentioning that three of the 5 skaters skated on the Lillis deck. Hmmm...there might be more to that wizard logo than what meets the eye.

Johan's main discipline is street. He showed some difficult ollie flips. I do think that aside from his street talent, he also has very good potential for flatland.

After the prizeceremony, we were all still eager for more skating. So a best trick contest followed.

I thought that my double 360 fingerflip would give me the top honor but my landing was not up to par. Johannes bagged the first prize with a triple 360 railflip to crossfoot. For that great effort, FourSouls gave him some Airwalk shoes.

After a few hours, we all decided to call it a day, pack up and head for home. All in all, it was a good experience for of us skateboarders who participated.

There was a spirit of competition but most importantly there was fun and a healthy sense of camaraderie which extended not just to the skateboarders but to everyone who was there.

In the car with Denis and Johannes, our main subject of conversation was the upcoming contest in Germany in October.