Tom Schaar has shown remarkable promise as a skateboarder but few expected a 12-year-old to become the first in the sport to land a 1080. This week, however, the kid made history by soaring above a 27-foot quarterpipe wall, spinning three full rotations and landing with his board still underfoot. (Footage was released Friday; the trick is nailed just before the 35-second mark.)
News quickly spread via social media and the legendary Tony Hawk, who in 1999 became the first to land a 900, was among those to chime in. "I've seen Shaun White try 1080s & Mitchie Brusco crash-land a few," Hawk Tweeted. "Tom Schaar nailed it."
Schaar, who lives in Malibu, is among only a handful of skaters to have landed a 900. But many believed he lacked the size and strength necessary to achieve enough speed to land a 1080 on the MegaRamp.
The MegaRamp at Woodward West in Tehachapi, Calif., features a 70-foot roll-in ramp that leads to a 50-foot gap and ultimately the quarterpipe ramp. The ramp was customized by Schaar's sponsor, Red Bull, before he began to skate.
He nailed the trick on his fifth try.
"I'm pretty stoked," Schaar said afterward. "I thought it'd take three days of trying it 40 times... I was definitely high enough and I could tell I was spinning fast enough, and right at about 720 I saw the coping and I was 2-3 feet above the coping and I got around that last 360, and I was just amazed."
So were his much older peers.
Said skateboarding icon and MegaRamp specialist Bob Burnquist, via email: "Tom Schaar is a little giant and a spinning machine. Amazing. Look forward to learning a lot from him in the future."
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