Kyle Walker 'Ruby' For Vans
It's been de rigueur over recent years for the gnarliest parts to be held back until mid November, as some type of cynical ploy to cement a skater in the public consciousness, right around the time the SOTY nominations are being drawn up. Kyle Walker won Thrasher's Skater of the Year award back in 2016 though so he's not constrained by this mindset, meaning he's dropped quite possibly the strongest part of the year in early August and our lives are all the better for it!
Another trend, this one stretching back much further than the SOTY push, has been the release of "ender" spoilers - we can't begin to recall the amount of times we knew the after black hammer in any given part because it had either appeared as a photo in print form or shared on Insta the moment the video went live. Again, Kyle sidesteps this common trope and takes us all by surprise with a video game worthy last trick that nobody saw coming.
Sure, we'd all seen the massive 5050 photos and then the wall ride of doom in thumbnail below but those just led us up the garden path, the lad had an ender ender we had no clue existed and that's the way we like it! Maybe it's a cynical ploy all of its own but this breaking the mould means we're now rooting for him Thrasher award repeat. Kyle Walker 2021 SOTY!