Words and photos: Ana Paula Negrão

The Maloof Money Cup kicked off in Costa Mesa, USA, at the end of July, with the biggest prize purse in skateboard history. A whopping $41,750 in prize money was doled out to the globe’s finest female riders.

The top 10 pro female skateboarders in the world were invited to compete in a bid to bag top podium spot and take home $25k plus a Nixon watch.

Only five made it to the finals to take part in two ten-minute jam sessions, where the average of their two scores made their final score. The skaters shredded the course and showed the world that girls skateboarding has progressed incredibly.

Leticia Bufoni qualified second and was everyone’s favourite to win after landing three amazing new tricks: flip front board down the rail, flip back lip and frontside blunt slide. Unfortunately, her bold manoeuvres resulted in injury on the first jam session and left her lagging in fifth place.

Elissa Steamer stepped up with a noseslide the habba and kickflip down the gap first try, and Vanessa Torres came back with a noseslide down the habba, back tailslide, back lip down the rail and a lot of style.

Rachel Reinhard showcased a kickflip down the big 17 stairs on the last jam session, but it was Lacey Baker who came out on top with perfect control over the manuals and huge 360flips, fontside flips and hard flips. The highlight was the nose slide to nollie heel flip on the long long ledge. Congratulations to all the girls for some seriously show-stopping skating.

The final results:
1st – Lacey Baker: $25,000 and a Nixon watch worth $10,000
2nd – Rachel Reinhard: $8,000
3rd – Vanessa Torres: $4,000
4th – Elissa Steamer: $2,000
5th – Leticia Bufoni: $1,500
6th – Amy Caron: $250
7th – Lorena Lima: $250
8th – Lauren Perkins: $250
9th – Evelien Bouilliart: $250
10th – Marissa Del Santo: $250