2023 RSOTY AWARDS

Welcome to the second annual Roller Skater Of The Year contest. RSOTY was started in 2022 at a time when roller skating was still a little too underground for a RSOTY competition like this, but we knew that street culture was growing and would experience a surge in popularity in the near future. It was worth doing that first RSOTY if only to acknowledge and incentivize the skaters who were dedicating themselves to this movement. And our prediction of a surge did in fact occur in a big way. We were very pleased—and a bit surprised—by the outpouring of enthusiasm and the huge response to the contest this year. There were so many more contenders and so many more votes cast by the community in 2023. Thank you to everyone who voted—you chose these winners, we couldn’t have done it without you—and to all the participants who entered. And without further ado, here are the 2023 RSOTY results:

product of the year:

King Cobra by Brunny Hardcore

Brunny Hardcore, based out of Melbourne, Australia, has really taken off in the roller-skating industry. It seems like everyone skates these now and that’s why they won the “Product Of The Year” category. This year they released their first-ever signature product with team skater Carolina Hernández: the King Cobra P.O. Blocks 3056 V1.2. Congrats to Brunny Hardcore, we love seeing all the new products. Keep that shit coming!

VIDEO OF THE YEAR:

Fast Forward by Lazo (Released May 13th 2023)

Featuring: Alli Tong, Barbie Patin, Nemo Debevoise, Karli Craig, Michelle Steilen, T-Stacks Frank, Silvia Kambourdis, Megan Shaffer, Ivey Wohl, Luz Alen, and Dani Maldonado.

Filmed by Erik Bragg, Dave Hoang, and Miguel Ramos. Edited by Shrimp Daddy and Erik Bragg. Produced by Michelle Steilen, Ed Moncada, and Per Welinder.

UP AND COMER OF THE YEAR:

Elise Koch

From her performances at competitions this past year, to her rapid progression as seen on Instagram, it is no surprise Elise caught the attention of her fellow roller skaters and landed her on the list of contenders for this award. The 22-year-old has been living in Brooklyn and working on her first skate part that will be coming out in the near future—it might even be out by the time you read this. Here are some things she had to say about her experience working on this upcoming project:

On street vs. park: “It is so difficult to get your brain to do tricks in the street that you are very confident with at the park. We pulled up to a ledge recently and I was like, ‘I can’t do anything on this ledge,’ but it was absolutely identical to the one I skate at the park.”

On skating in the streets: “It is also so weird being in a public space. You have to worry about getting kicked out of spots or you show up and the spot is capped. You have to worry about the creeps in the street, especially in New York—you run into everybody.”

On creating a video: “Filming a street part is exciting, and stressful, and overwhelming all at once. You have to recognize you are not putting it out to brag about your skating, or show how good you are, you are putting it out to contribute to the culture and grow the sport.”

We can’t wait to see what she does next.

RSOTY finalists:

Skater of the year: