The 2026 SLS DTLA Takeover delivered one of Street League Skateboarding's most improbable winners. Korea's Juny Kang, who only made the eight-skater men's final by qualifying first in the wild card jam, held his nerve down a 20-stair handrail to beat Jagger Eaton, Toa Sasaki and four-time Olympian Nyjah Huston in front of a packed downtown Los Angeles crowd.
Kang's triumph came down to a single trick. With Eaton sitting in the leader's chair on 27.0 and Kang chasing 8.9 to overtake him, the Seoul native locked into a nollie 270 boardslide down the takeover course's biggest rail and rolled away cleanly. The score, a 9.5, sent him past Eaton on the cumulative tally and triggered scenes of disbelief in the SLS booth.
"That is nine club right there," the SLS commentary team said as the trick was reviewed. "He landed it perfectly. Look at his face — he's like, 'Yo, did I just do that?' He did it." Moments later, when the final score was read out, the booth followed up with the verdict: "A wild card to win. We are starting to see a trend."
Kang opened the contest with a switch 270 frontside blunt slide on the smaller of the two competition rails and refused to throw away an attempt all night. The 25-year-old's calm demeanour stood out in a final loaded with established names — Eaton, Huston, France's Aurelien Giraud, Antoine Dixon and former champion Gustavo Rivero among them.
Eaton, contesting his first event back from a long lay-off, took second on 27.0 after riding away from a switch backside overcrook on a board that snapped on impact. The American was visibly elated despite the loss, signing autographs on the broken deck near the course exit. "Coming off a tough loss, still signing autographs with a broken board — that was the wildest thing," the SLS commentary noted.
Japan's 19-year-old Toa Sasaki, the other wild card to break into the eight-rider final, took third after producing a back three on the 20-stair handrail despite snapping two boards back-to-back during the qualifier. Huston, the most decorated skater in SLS history, finished fourth, unable to reel in the field after a tough opening attempt.
The result puts Kang firmly in the conversation for one of the eight Super Crown qualification spots later in the year. With wild cards now winning at SLS Sydney and DTLA in succession, the message from the takeover format is unmistakable: the path to the top of street skating is wider than ever, and a new generation of names is willing to walk it.
