By James Day
Silverton skateboarder Lari-Ann Rupp captured the bronze medal in the giant slalom at last month’s World Skate Games in Argentina.
Rupp, an economic development specialist for Marion County, completed the course in 33.712 and helped propel the American team to a 1-2-3 finish.
Teammates Lynn Kramer and Isa Ruiz won the gold and silver, respectively. Here is how Rupp described her bronze-medal run in an email to Our Town:
“I engaged my core as hard as I could and made a huge pull off the start ramp with all my strength. On the top of the course, where we are trying to pick up speed, I did single pumps with a huge arm swing that gave me the momentum balance I needed to push as hard as I could to maximize my wheel pressure to just barely below the breaking point where they begin to slide.
“As I was coming into the big turn for the far offset, I began to tuck as low as I could without missing the cones and applying as much forward pressure past my front truck as I could without high siding, which is a term we use for when we fly over the ‘handlebars’ of our skateboards. I raged through the finish line feeling like I had made a perfect run for myself and done the best I possibly could have.
“I hiked back up to the top of the hill and was thrilled to hear that I was going to bring a medal home to Silverton!”
Rupp competed in three other events at the competition, which included 13 athletes from five countries. Rupp did not make the finals in hybrid slalom, took tenth in tight straight slalom and was disqualified for missing a cone in tight special slalom.
Rupp is a long time skateboarder and is proficient in snowskating moguls as well. She only recently took up slalom skateboarding. She qualified for the international competition at her first try at the discipline at an event in Salem.
Looking ahead, Rupp plans to train all winter in snow skating at Mount Hood and hopes to qualify for the ISSA world championship in Paris in May of 2023 as well as the next World Skate Games in October in Italy.
