With one of the most successful trajectories in Brazilian skateboarding, the hexac champion Sandro Dias won on Thursday (25) an unprecedented and unusual title for his career.
At age 50, days, known as Mineirinho, broke a world record by descending 70 meters from the side of the Fernando Ferrari Administrative Center (CAFF) in Porto Alegre.
In eight seconds and at a speed of 103.8 km/h, the skateboarder performed a drop in the 21 -story building, which houses most of the state departments of Rio Grande do Sul.
In a moment of apprehension before the descent, he repeated to himself the informal mantra that accompanied him during the training months to perform the maneuver. “I invented, I convinced, I prepared,” Sheet This Friday (26).
The event was organized by Red Bull in a partnership with the Gaucho government, as part of a brand advertising in one of the most striking buildings of Porto Alegre architecture.
There were six maneuvers until it reached 70 meters. To return to the ramp, Sandro climbed through the building elevator and descended from Rapel to the new starting point.
The descent was an old dream of Mineirinho, since a visit to Rio Grande do Sul in the 1980s to participate in an amateur competition.
At the time, the Caffa was a newly opened building, but was already standing out as a Porto Alegre icon for its sloping facade, which earned him the nickname ‘skate ramp’ and inspired generations of young people to dream of the descent.
The plan started to leave the paper 13 years ago, when Dias developed a project to make the descent. It was about three years of development with Red Bull to get the idea of the paper, a process that will be shown in a documentary with no release date.
Preparation included two test descents earlier this month, as well as resistance training that included the use of 40 kg weight vests to test the effects of the acceleration-made force. The training was needed to support a weight that could reach 350 kg against your body.
He also tested on the asphalt, pulled by motorcycles until it reaches 120 km/h to measure axle stability and aerodynamics at that speed.
On Thursday morning, he arrived at Caff after a well-dormid night. “I couldn’t see the Palmeiras game because I was already sleeping already, I just went to see the next day,” he said.
Mineirinho had the company and the support of his wife and two sisters, who came to accompany the event. He also received the noisy and festive support of hundreds of people who gathered on the street next to the building to watch the historic moment.
With a trajectory that includes a gold medal in X-Games and the mark of being the third skateboarder in the world to perform the 900th maneuver by completing two and a half turns, Mineirinho tells of a reflection that emerged at his birthday party in April. “I said ‘my God, I have two children, I want to live a lot, I like my life, I love to live, but I’m 50 years old,'” he said. “It looks like it turns into a key in our head and speaks like this: Wow, now it’s countdown.”
The situation also made him reflect on how the world – and the sport – changed in its nearly 40 years of career. It is a major transformation since the 1980s, when the then mayor of São Paulo Jânio Quadros banned skate.
“I came from a time that skateboarding was not even considered sport. It was considered a toy, and the children who played with skateboarding were seen as marginal children,” he said.
He believes the X-Games in the 2000s were a driving force. The new key turn came after skateboarding to the List of Olympic sports and the talent of the new generations. “The children started to mirror the Rayssa [Leal] For her popularity, and then the skateboard started to be much better from a while ago, “he said.
He says he has organized a skate thematic camp since 2015 and that interest has increased after the Tokyo and Paris Olympics. “Some kids go there and parents take. Parents say ‘Wow, Sandro Dias! Son, take a picture with him.’ The father wants to take a picture with me, not the son,” laughs Mineirinho.
Today, he says he still doesn’t know what the next challenge will be, but he doesn’t want to stand still. For now, celebrates a personal discovery that has achieved with the achievement.
“I didn’t know that I would, at this age, would be so capable of preparing myself mentally to face such a situation without fear,” he said.
“I know I am this age, but I do not feel 50 years old, I feel prepared for anything else, and I think this project proved a lot, that 50 years for me is nothing.”
