Slalom skateboarding
Racers
Racers
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Some of the early stars of Slalom racing were [Henry Hester](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuP9H1rbBYA), Bobby Piercy and John Hutson. These skaters won many of the races of the 1970s. Immediately following the rebirth of the sport in the 2000s, with the organization of the 2001 World Championships of Slalom, put on by Jack Smith in Morro Bay, CA, racers such as Gary Cross, Paul Dunn, and Charlie Ransom dominated. In the following years some of the most successful racers were Kenny Mollica and Jason Mitchell in the US, Luca Giammarco (ITA) Maurus Strobel (SUI) and Dominik Kowalski (GER) in Europe for the men's division. In the women's division [Lynn Kramer](/wiki/Lynn_kramer "Lynn kramer") (USA), multiple World Champion, really stands out, winning more than 10 overall titles. Other top level racing women of this period include the 2003 World Champion, 1970's legend [Judi Oyama](/wiki/Judi_Oyama "Judi Oyama") (USA) and the Europeans Kathrin Sehl (GER) and Lienite Skaraine (LAT).

In recent years Joe McLaren (USA) has won more men's World Championship titles than any other previous racer, although he is regularly facing tough competition from Europeans such as Janis Kuzmins (LAT), Christopher and Michel Dupont (FRA) and the brothers Viking and Viktor Hadestrand (SWE). In North America the top contenders are currently Louis Ricard (CAN), Jonathan Harms (USA) and Joseph Kyle Smith (USA). Richy Carrasco (USA) a 1970s professional freestyle skateboarder and World Record holder of 360 spinning has also stayed a top contender and maintained a position in the top 10 Pro World Ranking for more than 11 years in a row between 2008 and 2019\. Paul Price (of UK, now USA) has been a frequent traveler across Europe, North America and Australia and holds the record for the most races run. 

Among the women Lynn Kramer still holds strong, but in 2018 Mare Erika Belta (LAT) won both the World Championship title in tight slalom as well as the World Champions Super Final tight slalom title, both times racing Lynn Kramer in the finals. The other women placing in the top three, in either of the three slalom disciplines, at the ISSA World Championships in Policka, Czech Republic, 2018 were Karolina Vojtova (CZE), Endija Ruja (LAT) and Alina Krasavina (RUS). As if 2018 was only a temporary exception, in 2019 Lynn top once again became the World Champion in all three main slalom disciplines: tight, hybrid and giant slalom.


What happened to Slalom racing in the 2000s?