18-year-old from Malibu wins prestigious bowl skateboarding competition for third time in his career.

Tom Schaar took the first place in the Pro Division at the 13th annual Vans Pool Party contest, making history by winning the high-profile event for the third time in his young career. In front of a roaring crowd at Vans Skate Park in Orange, California, the 18-year-old from Malibu emerged on top of a field of the world’s best bowl riders – winning the coveted trophy.

Now in its 13th year, the Vans Pool Party is one of the most established and respected competitions on the pro skateboarding calendar. Over 40 of the world’s top pros battled for the win in the Pro Division today, joined by the icons of vertical pool-riding history in the Legends Division.

The action culminated in the Pro finals, Schaar faced a stacked field of nine top vertical skateboarders. The level of competition was at an all-time high, as Southern California ripper Cory Juneau raised the bar on his first run by posting a hard-to-beat 94.33 point score.

Rising to the challenge, Schaar put together a highly technical run, starting with a high-flying backside 540 in the deep end, followed by high-speed frontside feeble grind, kickflip indy, frontside nosegrind to lipslide, noseslide to fakie, Caballerial to backside disaster, and alley-oop backside lipslide in the deep end, plus frontside ollie blunt on the “peninsula” hip and a tall ollie to frontside smith for a 94.67 point score and his third Pool Party win.

“This is the greatest event of the year,” said Schaar. The crowd is super loud, everyone comes out and everyone goes off. It’s just the best contest and I’m really happy right now.

Every year, the Vans Pool Party provides a multi-generational showcase of deep bowl riding in the legendary Combi Pool. The twelve-feet deep vertical structure is a replica inspired by historic Upland Pipeline Skatepark, known as one of the hotbeds of 1980s progression in vertical skateboarding. Icons such as Chris Miller, Lance Mountain, Steve Caballero, and Steve Alba laid the foundation for modern-day vertical skateboarding at Upland, and brought history full-circle today by competing in the Legends Division.