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My name is Yannik Loehr, I am 17 years old, I am from Kandel(Germany) and I am a foreign exchange student in Chewelah WA this year, my hobbies are skateboarding and snowboarding... add me on msn: yannikl@live.com

Alex Mizurov January 31, 2008 @ 10:13 AM He’s got no style, his head works great as a hat stand, his choice of clothing is ridiculous, 50 Cent is so 2005 anyway, he’ll probably die if you remove the earplugs, he can only skate flatland (which is freestyle), he spits, he’s an arrogant, spoiled brat with an attitude problem that got lucky once. Maybe twice. Yeah, you wish. Keep on hating, if it floats your boat. Hating is always fancy, can’t go wrong with it. You’ll never have the skills and board control he has. But you’ve got something he lacks completely: a solid rod up the rear end, that’s what. In just about 13 months, Alex has managed to collect more international titles than anyone else before him (correct me if I’m wrong here), and you can scream “contests don’t matter” for all you like—this 19 year old’s rampage still stands as a pretty bold statement. Well, at least it would, if he cared. Alex didn’t start skating to become what he is today, and he certainly doesn’t keep skating because he sees it as his professional duty. Like it or not, he’s still having fun with it. You should maybe ask yourself, if you could say the same about yourself after a year-long run in the skateboarding business mills, and among internet kiddies who hate on you just because you’re exceptionally good. You’d probably hate on him even more if he’d have more fun letting his skills rot on a couch. Time to wake up. This is his Slept On. —David Luther OF COURSE he’s a princess. It happens easily these days. No one in his right mind would be happy to encounter some wheel-eating little gnarspot after having been shipped to the best spots this globe has to offer (there are exceptions to this rule, of course). And that’s on someone else’s expense for months in a row, too. Then again, skating a lot of rough spots only helps, once you encounter a really good spot. Once again, fun comes into play. “Yeah, I probably am a spoiled princess. Sometimes, anyway. There were some months this year, when every spot I skated had perfect ground, and I kinda got used to that. That doesn’t mean I can’t skate rough spots, I used to skate those all the time when I was younger. I don’t really know how to put it...I go through phases, like everybody does. Phases during which I just can’t skate a spot, no matter how good, because something else is on my mind, or whatever. Bad days, we all have them. On tour, usually hardly any spots are perfect, and to be perfectly honest with you: I’d rather skate a perfect, chill spot. It’s just more fun to me. I like good ground. I like it better than hucking myself down big stuff. That’s all. And it doesn’t mean I skate flat all the time. I love curbs, too. Or a good miniramp. Learning new tricks on a mini is super fun.” Alex was born in June 1988 in Astana, the capitol of Kazakhstan, where he lived until shortly before his seventh birthday. “I don’t remember much about Astana, it’s been a long time since then. We moved to Germany just before I turned seven, and a few weeks after our move, I entered first grade. I can’t recall the reason for our move, I guess my parents wanted to start over. My grandfather used to live in Germany, he had a German passport, so we were allowed to go. My mother, my sister, my aunt, and myself went first. My father followed a little later, along with some more relatives. My mom told me that I didn’t want to go, because I had a lot of friends from kindergarten there, but I think in the end I managed to handle the sudden change pretty good. It was a rather spontaneous move, they didn’t think too long about it. I started learning German when we arrived, but I still speak Russian with all my relatives, when I’m at home. Which is not that often anymore.” For the record: in just under 13 months, Alex became European Champion, German Champion, Game Of Skate Eurochamp and GOS amateur World Champion (twice each), and he won the GOS Pro finals 2006, which got some people scared shitless, obviously. “The year was off the charts,” he recalls. “I didn’t even spend half of the time at home. Anyway, if I’m in the area, I tend to hang more with my girlfriend, then at home. Right from the start I tried to be at home and with her as much as possible, because touring too much gets to me really quick. I’m somewhere in Brandenburg right now, been on tour for a week again, and it’ll be at least another week, before I get to see the girl again. She tags along whenever she has the time to, nevertheless it’s a stress factor for me: wanting to be with her, but being somewhere else.” Let’s face it: a girlfriend is a better thing to care about, than not being allowed to defend ones title in the GOS Pro competition. “There’s nothing left to say about that, really. I would have loved to defend that title, I wasn’t allowed to, and why that was is up to anybody’s guess. People think I take it super-serious, but that’s about as stupid as hating on people’s styles in internet forums. I’ve read it all, and it just doesn’t bother me. I’d prefer it if folks talked more about people they actually know, people they’ve met. Then, I might consider taking shit like that serious. But even then, they should cut the crap. Keep talking shit if that’s what you need to do, I’d rather go skating. Life is not all chill right now, but I certainly can’t complain. I’m having tons of fun and great sessions. Travelling all the time can become a little exhausting, but hey, if not now, then when?” And, also for the record: Alex has been skating since 2000, so he’s not that much of a freshman anymore. “I used to skate smaller competitions every once in a while, but it never came to me that I maybe should step it up a notch. Even in Basel, I didn’t skate to win, I just wanted to skate good. Apart from that, I just always skated in my hood, in Rastatt and Karlsruhe, and everything just kind of fell into place.” How’s losing for this winner, then? The night before he went to the States in 2006, he told his close friend Christian Dittrich, that he was going to win the Game Of Skate. And he did. Seems like someone who could have a hard time losing games. And even if the following sentences sound like he analyzed single riders; rest assured, he didn’t. “I lost my last game of S.K.A.T.E to Yannick Schall in Hamburg, when we met for the COS finals. It was a tie, and I don’t even remember what he did, it was some weird, funny trick that won him the game. I can lose, of course I can. However, when we went to the States in 2006 and I claimed that I was going to win, I really meant it. I had watched the previous GOS, and I figured: ‘I’ve got all the tricks they’re doing down as well, so it might just work.’ And it did. We laughed all the way to the bank. The plan worked out. But I would never train for a game of skate, or let it gain soccer-like proportions. I might learn a new trick and use it in a game, once I have it wired, but I don’t sit and think about tricks especially for a game of skate. That’d be weird. Right now, I’m way more interested in rails, anyway. I’m not too good, when it comes to rails, but I like to skate them a lot these days.” So, here’s a kid with a dream, and with an opportunity to make his dream a reality. Heck, it already is a reality, in a way. It’s happening while you read this. Looks like a golden path. Looks like it. Alex won’t be fooled by looks, he knows that his active role won’t last forever, and that the way of a true professional is not all fun and games. “I’ve finished secondary school, and I went on to study at some other school, but that sucked, so I bailed, and worked at a skateshop in Karlsruhe for a while. That’s actually quite fun. I could imagine doing that in the future. That, or work at a distribution.” Not that he’s to worry about this right now. This is just the beginning. Alex Mizurov