Finland is known for its’ brutal winters and Nomadic Vikings. Marius Syvanen has inherited the nomadic viking gene. Fearless, spontaneous, and a hotly burning stroke for all things skateboarding. This is Marius Syvanen.

Mike McGill developed the McTwist, which has become a standard move in skating and snowboarding. McGill, who still owns and runs McGill Skate Shop in Encinitas, first landed the trick in 1984 at a summer camp in Sweden.

Realizing he needed to spin his body around one and a half full times after leaving the lip of the ramp, McGill knew he had to perform the trick a few feet in the air. One day, he decided to go for it. Suiting up with wrist guards and hip pads, McGill tried the move for only 40 minutes before completing the full 540-degree spin and landing it on all four wheels. No one had a video camera. This was 1984; pre YouTube, pre cell phones with video cameras, and pre cell phones period. The next day, McGill convinced skateboard legend and good friend Lance Mountain to bring his camera and take a sequence of his newly discovered trick.

After seeing what it actually looked like himself, McGill started flipping his body over mid-spin three months later. “It just felt better and looked better,” he said nonchalantly. Teammate Rodney Mullen called it the McTwist. The name has stuck ever since. Since then, the move has become almost a requirement for skateboarders and snowboarders to be able to compete at the highest level. “After I did the McTwist in competitions, you had to do it to qualify and a lot of guys didn’t like me for that,” Mcgill said laughing.

With Shaun White winning the gold in the 2010 Winter Olympics with two McTwists in a row, one can only wonder what the Double McTwist will turn into next Olympics.

Collin Provost has been on the scene for quite some time but you might not have really noticed him until just recently. In the past year and a half, Provost has gone from the little super grom that we first took notice of in the Element Twigs video, “Tricks.” For those that missed that little seen gem, it featured tiny groms with video parts that made full grown pros nervous. Nyjah Huston, Tyler Bledsoe and Provost had standout parts. After the Twigs team was dissolved, Huston, Bledsoe and Provost slid into am spots on the regular Element team where Provost stayed for several years.

In that time, Provost grew about two feet and his skills on board went from grom good with kid style to just plain really good with straight up awesome style. Provost garnered recent attention with his switch from Element to Toy Machine. And, as of this week, Provost was officially put on the Emerica shoe team as well (he’d been on the flow team for many years already). Welcoming Provost to the team, Emerica put out this two minutes of Collin’s “throwaway” footage that won’t be in his highly anticipated full part in the upcoming “Stay Gold” video.

Text courtesy espn

A Cool Picture Of John Rattray

Jeron Wilson is an OG: Original Girl rider. One of the more subtle guys on that stellar team, Wilson has held down a solid pro career for at least a decade and a half. While some other pros with that kind of longevity at times get accused of milking it, Jeron has gotten nothing but love. Why is that, you ask? Because the man has never fallen off. He’s consistently consistent with his tricks and his coverage. No, he’s not a Daewon or a Chris Cole. He doesn’t rack up multiple video parts in a year or put out 10 interviews all at once. But what Dubs does do is put out quality photo, footage and the like that keeps you wanting more. Top that off with a mellow personality, a humble approach to things, a solid stable of legit sponsors and you’ve got the ingredients to a solid career. Now Wilson can add Royal Trucks to that sponsor list. And, if his DVS team page is to be believed, today is his birthday as well. Happy Birthday Jeron Wilson. Keep doing your thing!