Kelvin Hoefler And Rayssa Leal Win First SLS Championship Tour Stop In Chicago

Brazil had a banner day at the first stop of the 2023 Street League Skateboarding (SLS) Championship Tour at Chicago’s Wintrust Arena on April 29. Sao Paulo’s Kelvin Hoefler’s took the title for the men while Imperatriz’s Rayssa Leal did the same for the women.

In the new SLS format for 2023, both riders directly qualified for the next SLS Tour final in Japan and earned themselves entry into the 2023 SLS Super Crown World Championship.

It’s clear who the standard-bearer in women’s street skateboarding is; Leal’s SLS title was her fifth straight since July 2022. The 15-year-old also took silver at the Tokyo Olympics. Hoefler did the same at the Tokyo Games and also took the win the last time Chicago hosted an SLS stop in 2015.

Among the 25 other athletes competing in Chicago, Momiji Nishiya took second for the women and Roos Zwetsloot took third. In the men’s final, Ryan Decenzo took second and Nyjah Huston, in his return to competition after injury, took third.

Leal’s highest-scored trick at 8.4 points was her frontside bluntside, while Hoefler’s full cab backside tailslide to fakie earned him his second 9.0 of the day and cemented his victory. It was a narrow one, however, over Decenzo, as the two finished with 35.7 and 35.1 points, respectively.

Huston missed many major contests, including the majority of last year’s SLS Championship Tour, as he recovered from an ACL tear he suffered in August 2022. He chronicled his committment to physical therapy and recovery on social media, which clearly paid off as he finds himself atop the podium once again.

Tokyo’s Ariake Arena will host the second stop of the 2023 Championship Tour—the debut of SLS in Japan—and the final stop will be held at Sydney’s Ken Rosewall Arena. The Super Crown Championship date and location is yet to be announced.