Juni Kang steals the show in DTLA, Chloe Covell stands tall at SLS Takeover

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — In the Arts District you are guaranteed to find unique and surprising characters. From far and wide, thousands showed up for the latest Street League Skateboarding (SLS) Stop 02 DTLA Takeover event. 

This has no arena feel. No distance from the action. It was hot, tight, loud and built for chaos. A proper street course with legit consequences, including a 20-stair handrail section that turned each contest into a high stakes Royal Rumble. 

West Coast culture was proudly on display with Dodgers hats, vintage low riders, graffiti art, food trucks and positive vibes. Hip hop artist Paul Wall made a surprise performance to keep the energy lively.

At premier level skate events fans are accustomed to big hitters, professional household names. While America spawned the sport built on wood planks and four eurothane wheels, internationally the sport is full of youthful challengers.

Now entering the ring, the wildcard jam format. Consisting of twelve skaters battling for 30-minutes, the top two athletes moved on to the Men’s Final. Toa Sasaki from Japan and Juni Kang would advance. 

Under the blistering Southern California sun, the top 10 men’s skateboarders attacked the street course with precision. The all-time leader in SLS wins, Nyjah Huston, landed a patent switch frontside flip down the steep staircase to the delight of the crowd. Gustavo Ribeiro later hit a 360-degree flip frontside nose blunt on the smaller rail. The competition began to gain momentum. 

Kang, an 18-year-old from South Korea, threw down early hammers and did his best to stay in contention all afternoon. His combo of rail tricks included a switch, 270-degree, backside lip slide, left fans gasping in awe. 

He would up the ante and close out the show in style with a ridiculous 270-degree board slide. On his final attempt he mastered technical wizardry. Kang fell to his knees in disbelief and was mobbed by his fellow competitors in celebration. Earning a 9.0 from the judges, Kang scored his first SLS 1st place finish, and a golden ticket to the Super Crown World Championship in Brazil this fall. 

On the women’s side, Chloe Covell continued her dominate run in tact while winning and breaking new ground. After landing a massive kickflip down the stairs, she confirmed it was the biggest trick of her young career. The Australian was in control start to finish.

Men’s runner-up Jagger Eaton was right there in the mix, pushing pace and keeping pressure on the field on each attempt. His switch backside overcrooks on the long rail looked effortless. Before the contest, Eaton spoke with The Sporting Tribune on competing for Team USA, technology trends, music and more. 

Welcome to SoCal. What are your thoughts on being back in the hunt for SLS and skating in Los Angeles? 

Jagger Eaton: Well, it’s a pleasure to be here. Bringing SLS back to LA is huge. I mean, this the home of skateboarding, home of culture. Just being able to have an SLS, the art district, graffiti everywhere, music blasting like, can’t get much better than this. 

Tell me about your experience competing for the Olympics. I know Team USA. It’s a big, prideful event. You competed in Paris. You competed in Tokyo. What was that experience like for you? 

JE: Competing in the Olympics is unlike anything you’ll ever experience. I feel like Tokyo Games was interesting because of Covid, so it was kind of like a ghost town everywhere. Paris was the real experience where you’re in the dome of a crowd who’s yelling over everything. You can’t hear nothing, your music’s gone, and you’re just nervous and super exciting. I’m stoked to get two medals in that, and I’m very much looking forward to L.A.

In terms of filming, I know you’re big on putting video parts together. What’s your favorite angle? Is fisheye still popular or retro?

JE: Favorite angle of footage? I think we’ve gone from filming fisheye more to long lens stuff. I love all sorts of skateboarding filming. The last part I filmed was more of an old fashioned, handheld, all straight, long lens stuff. I think for me, that is the best angle to show skateboarding, especially when you’re doing long rails and stuff. I think that’s the angle but also doesn’t beat the classic VX fisheye down to grass gap. That’s also great. 

You were on the course earlier helping the crew adjust camera set ups. Can you share some of the technology Samsung is integrating into the takeover course and filming your own parts. 

JE: Oh yeah, that S26 phone is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. I mean, yesterday we did a full production around the ‘super steady mode’ that just came out with the horizontal lock feature. I’m serious, my buddy was running next to me as I was skating, and it looked like he was gliding. It was incredible. I think it’s going to really change the whole way that the crowd gets to perceive Street League now.  

One thing that’s interesting about skateboarding is you get to curate your own playlist, especially during competition. What do you listen to these days? What are your vibes?

JE: I mean, those Buds4 got rap, country rock, little bit of house music here and there, a lot of old dad rock, like campfire rock, Bob Seager, it’s got a lot of different things. I think it just depends, right? On an event like this, where there’s already such high energy, I don’t feel like I need to really create much. I’m already walking out there a little there a little bit nervous I’m psyched. Probably the music is more to calm me down, maybe a little bit of Larry June, keep it mellow. 

Today’s course has a pretty big stair set. Thoughts on that? We haven’t seen that much in SLS. 

JE: That’s the special thing about these recreation pop up events with Street League. These takeovers are spots that are very significant to L.A., right? This is either Wilshire or Hollywood. I’ve skated both of them. This rail is a big rail. They did a really good job of the concrete before the rail, the landing is steady. It grinds great. We’re gonna see what happens today.