Another year, another Paderborn BBQ Contest. Freestyle events have been held here for 24 years now (we previously published a post from Yoyo Schulz about the first ever freestyle event in Paderborn, if you missed it), and they keep getting bigger and better. This is the first year they’ve had to close the registration due to too many people signing up, and while some of those turned out to be no-shows, some first-timers joined up on the day to keep the competitor numbers high.
Rookie Division
The Rookie division got a bit of a rebranding at Paderborn, becoming the “Next Gen” contest – with a field full of young kids who were skating far better than their ages would suggest! It’s no surprise that a lot of these are coming out of the East Frisian camp; Matthias Mühring is doing a stellar job at teaching the next wave of freestylers in Germany.
Note: there are no ranking points given for the Rookie division.
| Position | Riders | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joel Roemer | Germany |
| 2 | Emma Esly | Germany |
| 3 | Luis Jabs | Germany |
| 4 | Adriana Römer | Germany |
| 5 | Luchezar Beschilia | Germany |
| 6 | Lara Marie Zellman | Germany |
Amateur Division
The Amateur division has been somewhat “robbed out” in recent years with so many competitors making the jump to either the pro or masters division, but it still holds the honour of being the largest division of the day at 24 competitors. As is often the case, Romanians put in a good showing, with Alexandru Stefan Anghelina laying down an incredible run for his first ever time at Paderborn, and the young Mircea Nicolescu stepping up after his second place in the Rookie division at World Freestyle and beating people who’ve been skating longer than he’s even been alive.
However, the man of the hour was 2024’s number one amateur freestyler, Alex Foster, who put down the best run of his life to take home the top spot. How this man doesn’t have a deck sponsor yet is an absolute mystery!
| Position | Riders | Nationality | Division | Ranking Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alex Foster | UK | Am | 23 |
| 2 | Tobias Heise | Germany | Am | 11 |
| 3 | Yannick Mostmans | Belgium | Am | 21 |
| 4 | Lukas Berres | Germany | Am | 10 |
| 5 | Alexandru Stefan Angelina | Romania | Am | 19 |
| 6 | Kevin Wessels | Netherlands | Am | 18 |
| 7 | Stefan Hante | Germany | Am | 8.5 |
| 8 | Patrick Thies | Germany | Am | 8 |
| 9 | Matthias Adam | Germany | Am | 7.5 |
| 10 | Romain Biardeau | France | Am | 14 |
| 11 | Jillis Groen | Netherlands | Am | 13 |
| 12 | Wolf Buck | France | Am | 6 |
| 13 | Mircea Nicolescu | Romania | Am | 11 |
| 14 | Melvin Muhring | Germany | Am | 5 |
| 15 | Kevin Exner | Germany | Am | 4.5 |
| 16 | Alexandru Soare | Romania | Am | 8 |
| 17 | Luis Barabas | Germany | Am | 3.5 |
| 18 | Alexandru Feraru | Romania | Am | 6 |
| 19 | Tim Hellmann | Germany | Am | 2.5 |
| 20 | Aaron Watts | UK | Am | 4 |
| 21 | Leo Knigge | Germany | Am | 1.5 |
| 22 | Jelle Callens | Belgium | Am | 2 |
| 23 | Maarten Van Heel | Netherlands | Am | 1 |
| 24 | Jasmin Smolders | Belgium | Am | 0 |
Pro Division
The pro division in Europe is becoming increasingly more diverse, with multiple skaters being able to take the top spot on any given day. The smart money after the first runs was on Daniel Adam, who laid down an absolutely perfect run in true Daniel Adam style. However, Timbo Vens stepped up his game and put down a strong run with a string of banger tricks to steal the gold.
| Position | Riders | Nationality | Division | Ranking Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Timbo Vens | Germany | Pro | 4 |
| 2 | Daniel Adam | Germany | Pro | 3.5 |
| 3 | Marcio Torres | Brazil | Pro | 6 |
| 4 | Daniel Popescu | Romania | Pro | 5 |
| 5 | Guenter Mokulys | Germany | Pro | 2 |
| 6 | Robert Wagner | Germany | Pro | 1.5 |
| 7 | Marius Constantin | Romania | Pro | 2 |
| 8 | Stephane Lagorce-Zimberlin | France | Pro | 1 |
| 9 | Andrei Novelli | Romania | Pro | 0 |
Masters Division
The Masters division has grown quite a lot in recent years as some of the mainstays of the Amateur division have moved over; Danny Klahold, Burns Lorenzen, and Alexandre “Pippex” Keltz all joined their more “seasoned” competitors within the last year, for instance. But the biggest addition has to be Putain’s new team rider, Gabor Mischlich, who only returned to competition in recent years and has bought a punk energy and some hard tricks to the Master’s division and takes home the gold as a result.
We also have to mention the return of Klaus-Peter Reintges, the inventor of the Reintges flip; he looked to be in fantastic shape, and hopefully he keeps it up and returns for future competitions!
| Position | Riders | Nationality | Division | Ranking Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gabor Mischlich | Germany | Masters | 5 |
| 2 | Danny Klahold | Germany | Masters | 4.5 |
| 3 | Patrick Bermudez | France | Masters | 8 |
| 4 | Joachim “Yoyo” Schulz | Germany | Masters | 3.5 |
| 5 | Pedro Jose Delgado Antunez | Spain | Masters | 6 |
| 6 | Burns Lorenzen | Germany | Masters | 2.5 |
| 7 | Alexandre Keltz | France | Masters | 4 |
| 8 | Eric Schader | Sweden | Masters | 3 |
| 9 | Klaus-Peter Reintges | Germany | Masters | 1 |
| 10 | Denis Sopovic | Sweden | Masters | 1 |
| 11 | Oliver Rief | Germany | Masters | 0 |
Women+ Division
Paderborn is where the Women+ division really started to take off, and it continues to have the strongest camaraderie of the whole event. As ever, all eyes were on the two Romanian rivals, Carmen Ionita and Rhiana Grigore, but after Carmen put down a perfect run peppered with technical and unique tricks, this could only go one way.
One thing’s for certain, though: the level of this division continues to increase every year, and Freya Ruske and Eva Grigore are biting at Carmen and Rhiana’s heels. This isn’t just a two-woman show any more!
| Position | Riders | Nationality | Division | Ranking Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carmen Ionita | Romania | Pro | 8 |
| 2 | Rhiana Grigore | Romania | Pro | 7 |
| 3 | Freya Ruske | Germany | Pro | 3 |
| 4 | Eva Grigore | Romania | Am | 5 |
| 5 | Cornely Krijnen | Netherlands | Am | 4 |
| 6 | Jenna Hoffman | Germany | Am | 1.5 |
| 7 | Evangeline Lilly Gocht | Germany | Am | 1 |
| 8 | Jette Biermann | Germany | Am | 0.5 |
| 9 | Julia Kienscherf | Germany | Am | 0 |
Got questions about the ranking points, how they’re assigned, and what they’re used for? Check the explanation here.
As per the precedent set by 2025’s World Freestyle, the Best Trick competition was eschewed in favour of selecting the best trick from the runs; Marcio Torres took that trophy home with a handstand endover to handstand kickflip, although it seemed like Christian Heise announced it was for his bizarre cross-handed rail handstand kickflip that happened after the run was over. Lukas Berres was also awarded the “Most Effort” prize.
Feeling like you missed out? Check out the freestyle events calendar to be notified when another freestyle contest is announced. And if you don’t want to keep checking the website, you can pick up the events in your favourite RSS reader by using this URL, or in your calendar app of choice using this one, so there’s no reason to miss the next big event.
