Pushing up to the monster ollie that anchored Nike’s Eastern Europe-scouring ‘7Ball’ earlier this year, Australian firecracker Jack O’Grady aimed himself between two sticks, marking where he needed to take off to land in the narrow bank below the first set of stairs. He was going full speed at a landing he couldn’t see.
So it is that internet users and certain others cast guesses toward Thrasher Magazine’s Skater of Tha Year award for 2023, this much-discussed year of the coney. Whilst contenders are plentiful and the field seems somewhat ‘wide open’ as the spirits of Halloween gather, the trajectory of recent years suggests that it’s mightily pointless to try and speculate prior to the first week of December, as skating’s award season has yet to kick into high gear. With all that being said, plunges must be taken, and in the night’s mistiest hour, names shall be named.
Tom Knox: On the cusp for years, like when he came with the 10-minute Atlantic Drift part, he’s returned again, in the last several weeks presenting a reliably transporting video for Dickies Pants in Paris, a Thrasher cover that channeled Mike Arnold’s neutron star hippie jump cover for Grey, and a commercial for a richly deserved ‘600’ pro shoe that is as bracing as any ‘full length’ part. He also had that welcome video to Krooked earlier this year, and seems to have a deep and abiding fan base in Hunter’s Point.
Miles Silvas: Seven or so years into his pro career, Miles Silvas has chosen to grow a beard and farm his hair out and take up an SF residency, as discussed in the lengthy interview that accompanied his gobsmacking Mason Street cover photo. Up til that point his output for the Thrasher umbrella was limited to raw footage from his ‘Define’ part and a SF spot sampler for Mob, but there’s presumably enough industry heft behind him to envision a chunk of footage on a digital glide path to arrive before the year’s end.
Curren Caples: Flip baby no longer, Curren Caples is now grown and appealing to that rare triumvirat of persnickety street rabble, contest-circuit judges and luxury goods modeling agencies. He gathered a good deal of momentum earlier this year off his epic Vans vid, and since then has been everywheres, jumping the cop car the long way at FuckingAwesome’s LA skate jam, grinding a goal for the Hockey event at Tompkins, pivoting the roof of the Bunt Jam barn and jumping on a Thrasher trip to South America. His ship-jumping to FA means no appearance in a Skate Mental vid that at one point was projected to come out this fall, but perhaps there’s footage that will get put out one way or the other.
Jack O’Grady:In ‘7Ball,’ named for that most enigmatic of billiard personas, the reliably hellbent Jack O’Grady rips tall rails and bricks, stepping to a Nick Dompierre hubba somewhere in there while on his way to bagging the Thrasher cover with that crazy ollie. He had a hand in an LA trip vid for Pass~Port and could well strike again before it’s all said and done. Similar to Milton Martinez a few years ago, you get the feeling that he’s one of those that Thrasher would love to give it to, given good reason.
John Shanahan: An East Coast achiever who never seems to stop working, John Shanahan this year has put out multiple vids for his Pangea denims project, as well as a feature-length section for his crate-digging DC shoe that had the footage of his eye-popping Thrasher cover and solidified his status among the heftiest heelflippers working. It’s been a good number of years since this dude could be pigeonholed as a late-90s caricature, and he may be the steadiest bet for a 2020s take on BA’s famed Pen and Pixel throne cover.
Yuto Horigome: One can imagine the world’s largest shoe company convening various Zoom calls and project meetings to discuss how best to make Olympic champs ‘relatable’ to the athletic apparel-buying masses — Olympic doubloon-holder Yuto Horigome managed this over the summer by taking tough slams, getting scolded by security and donning puffer coats to hit street spots in Tokyo’s rare off hours. He also presumably won a load of contests and it’s easy to see him coming with a bunch more footage in the next month, provided his Olympian responsibilities don’t preclude such things.
Simon Bannerot: Heavy ‘our guy’ vibes with the High Speed camp and a walloping last part in Lakai’s ‘Bubble’ vid last summer, Simon Bannerot could be a credible sleeper pick for any ‘most talented skateboarder on planet Earth’ portion of the Bunt pod-cast Q&A. He’s separately popped up in some little vids for Volcom and Girl’s Australia trip vid for Rowan Davis’ pro nod, and seems the type of dude you could place inside of a van, drive it somewhere and stand a ready chance of producing a magazine cover.