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More than two decades after Tony Hawk completed
the first 900-degree turn, Khury shattered a long-standing
record by flying off the top of a ramp and completing three full
spins in the air before landing cleanly and skating off. The
manoeuvre has long been one of the holy grails of skateboarding.
"The isolation for the coronavirus helped because he had a life
that was about school and he didn’t have a lot of time to train,
when he got home from school he was tired," the skater's father
Ricardo Khury Filho told Reuters.
"So now he is at home more, he eats better and he has more time
to train and can focus more on the training so that has helped.
"He has an opportunity to train here, if he didn’t have (the
skate facilities) ... he would be stuck at home like everyone
else and unable to do sport. So the isolation helped him focus."
During lockdown, Khury's family make the 20-minute journey to
his grandmother's house on most days to deliver food and drop
him off so that he can train on the vertical ramp, bowl and
street course they had built in her back garden.
It was on that ramp that the pre-teen completed his historic
feat.
He was already the youngest skateboarder to complete the
900-degree turn, a feat he pulled off aged eight.
"I was like, oh my God, what did I just do?" Gui Khury told
Reuters on Sunday, two days after achieving his historic 1080.
"I was just like OK, I landed it. Now I am going to celebrate."
The boy’s celebration was "mac and cheese at home" with his
family.
Skateboarding great Hawk landed the first 900 in 1999, nine
years before Khury was born.
Hawk was 31 when he successfully completed the trick calling it
the biggest moment of his competitive career.
Fewer than a dozen skaters have achieved the feat in the years
since.
American Tom Schaar completed a 1080-degree turn in 2012 but on
a mega ramp that gives skateboarders a higher speed and
elevation in which to complete all three turns.
Khury’s triple spin was recorded by his parents on their phone
and posted on Instagram.
"I sent it to all my favourite skaters, like Tony Hawk, Bob
Burnquist and Neal Mims," Gui Khury said from his home in
Curitiba, in southern Brazil.
"Some posted it on their stories and some actually posted it on
their Instagram. I was like that’s so crazy, because it’s like a
once in a lifetime experience.
"It’s so amazing. It’s the best feeling ever."
The skater's next task is to keep practicing the 1080-degree
turn so he can complete the trick in competitions.
Then, with the confidence that perhaps only an 11-year old can
pass off, he imagines attempting skateboarding’s next big
milestone.
"1260. One person has done it only but it was on a mega ramp so
it will be way (more) difficult for me," the boy said.
"It could be (possible). You never know."
Skateboarding is set to make its Olympic debut at the Tokyo
Olympics, which have been pushed back to 2021 due to the
coronavirus pandemic.
(Reporting by Andrew Downie, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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