Breaking stereotypes-and skateboards

How a 230-pound former football player became Canada's top-ranked contender for Olympics

- KERRY GILLESPIE

Canadian Cordano Russell was fourth at the 2023 street world championships, behind a Japanese sweep of the podium.

Cordano Russell has built a reputation for going up what other skateboarders go down, and that's only part of what makes this 19-year-old Canadian stand out.

His six-foot-three, 230-pound frame, which contributed to an impressive high school football resumé, is unique in elite skateboarding circles.

The explosive power he's able to produce means he can jump higher and approach the features in a skate park differently-riding up the big rails and obstacles, for example. All that and his focus on producing unique tricks adds up to an unorthodox package.

He was fourth at the street world championships in Tokyo in December, just behind a Japanese podium sweep. In his first six months on the World Skateboarding Tour, he rocketed up the Olympic qualifying rankings so quickly that his potential for this summer's Paris Olympics is a topic of conversation.

"Everyone is interested in him because he's so different," says Montreal's Samantha Secours, who won the women's event at the Bell National Street Skateboarding Championships last week. "It's cool to see someone bringing something else to the table."

Russell seems to be taking his sudden ascendancy in stride.

"I like to bring something new that the judges haven't seen," he says. "I feel like that's something that I've done since I was a kid and I'm just doing it now on a bigger stage.