Sweden - Solvalla 1978

[Jani Soderhall]

I think this was one of the first slalom competitions I ever attended (still a spectator at that time...). It was held at the parking lot of the Solvalla horse racing venue which had recently been resurfaced.


Alex Lindgren on the photo was a pretty good junior.


And Janne Richter was one of the top Swedish slalomers at the time. Initially all the fast slalomers were from Gothenburg (Forsman, Klock mfl), but around this time the slalomers in Stockholm (Janne Richter, Peder Strauss, Fabian Björnstierna, Fabian Månson) started taking over.

This race had one of the courses set as "Catalina style". First 5-10 cones straight, then 5-10 cones offset, approximately 1 feet in each direction, then a few straight ones again.

Tony Alva was the great attraction at this race. He didn't slalom, but he skated the halfpipe, with overhang and no platforms. Probably not more than 2 meters wide. Flat bottom hadn't been invented yet, so it was just up, down, up down. There wasn't much he could do, but we all admired him.

[Mattias Gustavsson]

I Found a plan of that kind of ramp tony alva skated here...

www.mollberg.com/skateboard/history/KF/bana_s2-3.jpg

That ramp was(only)2,40 meters wide!