A Tampa Pro Primer

To understand the significance of the Tampa Pro, one only needs to look at the list of skaters who have won it, starting with Mike Vallely in 1995, followed by Eric Koston the next year, then Andrew Reynolds, and so on. The Tampa Pro has been a fundamental event for so long that nearly every professional skater has participated in it, and it's renowned for being the rare competition that even "non-contest skaters" are eager to join. In 2023, this iconic professional event celebrated its 29th anniversary, establishing it as the longest-standing tradition in skateboarding. If you're able to attend, you're in for a treat; if not, you can tune into the live webcast and at least pretend you're there.

Who Can Skate It

Professional skateboarders who have [or had] a pro model signature board with an internationally recognized brand.

Format

Qualifiers

ALL PRIOR TAMPA PRO WINNERS ARE PRE-QUALIFIED TO SEMI-FINALS

• Skaters are separated into heats of roughly 15 to 20 skaters
• Each skater gets 2 one-minute runs, their best run counts
  • Top 30 advance
    • The top 2 qualifiers get a Straight Shot to Finals
  • 3rd through 30th advance to Semi-Finals

Semi Finals

• 28 skaters from Qualifiers joined by prior Tampa Pro winners
• Skaters are separated into two heats of roughly 15 to 20 skaters
• Each skater gets 2 one-minute runs, their best run counts
  • Top 10 advance to Finals

Finals

• 12 skaters
  • Two Straight Shot winners from Qualifiers
  • Top 10 from Semi-Finals
• Each skater gets 3 one-minute runs, their best run counts

Judging

Judging incorporates both objective and subjective elements. Tampa Pro employs a five-judge panel consisting of skaters with deep roots in and respect from the skateboarding industry, many of whom are former professionals. Using a 100-point scale, judges assign scores based on several factors: the difficulty of tricks, style, technique, variety of tricks, use of the course, flow, consistency, originality, and any other unique aspects a skater brings to their run. The judge's highest and lowest scores are discarded, and the remaining three scores are averaged to determine the final score. In the event of a tie, scores from a second run are used to break it.

Stakes

In addition to the winner earning a substantial payday, they will also have the distinction of being included on the list of all time winners.

Previous Winners

1995 - Mike Vallely
1996 - Eric Koston
1997 - Andrew Reynolds
1998 - Andrew Reynolds
1999 - Gershon Mosley
2000 - Kerry Getz
2001 - Kyle Berard
2002 - Eric Koston
2003 - Tony Trujillo
2004 - Bastien Salabanzi
2005 - Dennis Busenitz
2006 - Greg Lutzka
2007 - Eric Koston
2008 - Greg Lutzka
2009 - Greg Lutzka
2010 - Paul Rodriguez
2011 - Dennis Busenitz
2012- Torey Pudwill
2013 - Luan Oliveira
2014 - Nyjah Huston
2015 - Luan Oliveira
2016 - Shane O’Neill
2017 - Louie Lopez
2018 - Jagger Eaton
2019 - Carlos Ribeiro
2020 - Nyjah Huston
2021 - Shane O'Neill
2022 - Jamie Foy
2023 - Yuto Horigome