Sean Malto is Street League Champ

The contest was moved up a day due to the impending weather from Hurricane Irene. That meant one day less of practice, though it didn't show in the skating from these top-tier competitors.

The event began in the tech section where Ryan Sheckler pulled a full caballarial to backside lipslide on the A-frame rail sending him to the top of the leaderboard with a 7.3. Sheckler's lead wouldn't last long. Chaz Ortiz shocked everyone, landing a nollie bigspin heelflip backside lipslide, a trick we had not seen out of Ortiz the entire season. He earned a 9.3 and moved onto the line section in first place. Sheckler's initial score didn't hold up; he finished the section in 9th place with Mikemo Capaldi right behind him. The two were eliminated in the first round.

The line section helped determine who was in contention for the win. Cole, Ortiz and Malto were battling back and forth. Cole linked together difficult rail tricks and unique bump-to-ledge tricks, including a 5-0 kickflip out. Malto landed every trick that he tried and with 100 percent consistency moving into the final section in the lead. Nyjah Huston, who had won every Street League stop leading up to the championship as well as the recent X Games Skateboard Street contest, was surprisingly in the fourth spot but made it through eliminations to the final round.

The final section, replete with rails and hubba ledges, was where we witnessed the return of Huston. He came back strong and blew minds with heavy tricks including a nollie heelflip backside lipside down the 11-stair rail. Despite Huston's big push at the end, he didn't earn enough points to take the win away from Malto. Asked if getting second took some of the pressure off, 16-year-old Huston replied, "Yeah, it does. If you keep winning you feel like you have to keep winning. But it has to stop some time. You're going to have an off day. But I'm hyped I got second and this year went better than I ever thought it could."

Chris Cole pulled incredible tricks in the final section including another 360 flip 50-50 on the hubba ledge for the second Street League event in a row. The trick earned a 9.6, the single highest scored trick of the event. He finished in third.

Sean Malto nollied into tricks on the hubbas and backside over-crooked down the rail in the final section to push just ahead of Cole. When Cole fell on his final trick attempt, the deal was sealed. Malto then casually backside 50-50ed down the hubba ledge and into the arms of his celebrating friends.

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