the man who broke breaking

Breaking (aka breakdancing) is making its Olympic debut in Paris this summer. Victor Montalvo, the top American competitor, is fighting for not only a GOLD MEDAL but also the SURVIVAL of the sport.

- JOSH ROSENBERG

WHEN VICTOR MONTALVO'S SHOULDERS HIT THE FLOOR, THEY glide. He's a whirlpool, spinning round and round, pulling you closer with every impossible rotation. If you didn't know better, you'd think the floornot Victor was revolving. He pivots from his back to standing on his head to a full 360-degree spin on the palm of his left hand.

This is the world-champion breaker's signature move: the Super Montalvo.

It's cheeky, cocky, and a downright nuclear weapon that has made Montalvo the face of breaking (or breakdancing-the sport has enjoyed a rebrand since you originally watched You Got Served). In August, the 30-year-old will represent Team USA at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

"I honestly don't have rivals," Montalvo tells me in a video interview a few months before he takes the global stage. And there's not a hint of ego in his voice. The man hardly blinks, and his head is perpetually tilted ever so slightly to the side, sizing me up as if I were his next opponent. Pity the poor schmucks who have to face him in the Olympics.

Montalvo has earned his unmitigated confidence. In his career, he's won every major international breaking competition in the world. He is the reigning gold medalist at the World Games, a two-time champion of Red Bull BC One, and the most recent winner of the WDSF World Breaking Championship. Quite simply, he broke breaking. After a while, though, even winning felt repetitive. Montalvo lost the love of the sport...but that didn't last long. "I already did everything I wanted to do in my breaking career," he says. "I just got bored of it. It felt like a never-ending cycle. Same events each year, every year. Like, man, I want something new."