Skateboarder Julian Christianson, Hometown Hero, on the Denver skate scene blowing up

On Sunday, hometown hero Julian Christianson won the Hometown Heroes amateur skateboarding finals at X Games 17 -- it's his fourth time winning the contest -- and later this month he's headed to Las Vegas to compete in the Maloof Road Tour finals, after winning the Denver stop at the...

By Colin Bane

August 4, 2011

Audio By Carbonatix

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On Sunday, hometown hero Julian Christianson won the Hometown Heroes amateur skateboarding finals at X Games 17 -- it's his fourth time winning the contest -- and later this month he's headed to Las Vegas to compete in the Maloof Road Tour finals, after winning the Denver stop at the 303 Boards warehouse. Christianson also won Element's Make It Count finals in June, picking up a one-year Element team sponsorship (you'll notice he's all decked out in Element gear in the ESPN clip after the jump). This week, his local sponsors at the 303 Boards shop have been posting clips left and right, so we thought we'd gather some of them here and take the opportunity to catch up with him for a quick chat.

Westword: You've been having a big year!

Julian Christianson: I feel pretty overwhelmed by it, actually. I've been skating for 13 years and I've been trying to work hard so I can quit my job delivering Chinese food. It seems like it's all coming together this year.

You're on quite a streak with all these recent contest wins. What do you like about these kinds of competitions?

The kids that come out here make you try a lot harder. There have been really good skaters in all these contests, and it puts all the pressure on you. I think it's good for me and helps me get better.

There was another skater from Colorado in the Hometown Heroes finals at X Games, and Rachel Reinhard skated in the Women's Skateboard Street finals earlier in the week. Do you think the Colorado scene is blowing up right now?

I've been skating the Denver park since day one, and a lot of the kids from Denver are really good. I'd like to see more Denver kids travel and get out of their state more to help put the Colorado scene on the map and let everyone else see what's up. We've got some of the best skateparks anywhere and a lot of kids are coming up.

What are you looking forward to about the Maloof Road Tour finals later this month?

It's a best-line contest with the winners of all twelve of the Maloof Road Tour contests they had this summer. It's one of those things where you just have to see what you can put together when you get there. Hopefully I can keep this streak going!

Royal Stain Team Rider Julian Christianson from Tristan Minton on Vimeo.

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