Skip to main content
Headerbild
 
Created by T. Gentsch | News

Germany vs. The Netherlands 2024 | De Fabrik / Enschede


The next try!

Anyone who has followed the history of the “Germany vs. the Netherlands” contests closely in recent years will probably know the results - the Germans have never been able to win this event. In 2023, we, the Germans, had stars like Justin Sommer, Denny Pham and Jost Arens at the start for the first time, but even they weren't able to win against the concentrated contest power of our neighbors. But anyway, new year, new game, new luck and so on Saturday, 16.11.2024 we went back to Enschede to the “De Fabrik” skatepark, unfortunately without the riders mentioned above but with all the more motivation on the part of those who had traveled with us - after all, you never know who from the Dutch will be at the start!

Sometimes it's anything but easy to motivate skateboarders to take part in a contest. Whether it was due to the late time of year, a possible associated contest fatigue or the fact that the Germans have always come away empty-handed so far, it's impossible to say for sure. What we can say, however, is that the German starting field was a little smaller this year. In the week before the event, 3 of the riders who had confirmed their participation were injured, another 3 riders had to cancel due to illness and others had to attend birthdays or similar. Mad Props go out at this point to Victor Bass and Anton Wessely, who traveled from Berlin and Munich to fly the German flag a little higher. Add to that a few guys from Hamburg and North Rhine-Westphalia and the starting field looked pretty good. Some of the Dutch were still in Tampa, so there were more starters on their side. Nevertheless, with Bert Wilmink, Chris Hoeve, Reemy Aniceta and Tijmen Overbeek, the boys had some damn good riders at the start and the spectators were treated to some top-class skateboarding.

This year there was a new format for the first time, which should have given the Germans a little more chance. There was a best trick session on each of the three obstacles, from which one rider per country emerged as the “best” and made it to the final. It wasn't about doing THE best trick, but rather the mass of maneuvers that counted. Did everyone get that right? I'm not so sure...! Either way, Henry Alberts, Mika Möller and Antoni Zeyer ended up in the final against Bert Wilmink, Reemy Aniceta and Tijmen Overbeek. Each team then had 3 minutes “among themselves” and then another 6 minutes for both teams together on the course. A truly thrilling final, but at the end of the day... the German boys didn't stand much of a chance. And so it was hardly surprising that “The Netherlands” won again in 2024. Johan Schneider, who took the “ripped every obstacle all day” award, deserves special mention - respect to the little man from Mülheim an der Ruhr. Also respect to all the riders who were at the start and gave their all against the Dutch - you are top!!! Let's see what awaits us in 2025!