YoYo Related News From Around The World
C3YoYoDesign has announced another signature model that will be debuted at the World YoYo Contest, the Heartbeat! Designed for Grzegorz “Plamek” Wojcik, the Heartbeat is based on the Mo-Vitation, but with a larger diameter, different weight distribution, and a slimmer response pad than the usual C3 pads. Plamek will be using this on stage at the World YoYo Contest next week!
We’ll update with full specs once we have them…in the meantime check out this great teaser video and product shots!
Members of the Backspin Group gathered in Krakow, Poland to celebrate National YoYo Day in the best way they knew how…by filming a new video!
Featuring Grzegorz Wójcik, Damian Lada, Zbyszek Kubiński, Karol Blancioch, and Piotrek Śmietana.
The 2013 Winter Freestyle Contest and Polish Nationals is tomorrow in Krakow, Poland and we’ve got a look at the top contenders for the 1A Division.
Just last month, Tomas announced his departure from Duncan Crew to join the C3YoYoDesign team, shortly after taking 3rd Place in the Czech National YoYo Contest. Tomas is one of the brightest stars of the European scene, and is always a contender for Top 3 in any event he wants to win.
Petr is the 2013 Czech National Champion, and easily the top contender for this year’s WFC 1A Division. But for all his talent, Petr is just as susceptible to nerves as anyone else, and at this level of play it only takes one mistake to knock yourself out of First Place.
Ben Conde is a wild card for this event…while not usually one of the top competitive players in 1A, he’s a much better 1A player than many people realize. His trick construction is extremely well regarded among top-name players, but his natural tendency towards absurdly difficult banger tricks makes him a hit-or-miss in a contest setting.
With a strong 4th Place finish in the Open division at the 2013 Czech Nationals, Slovakian player Jan Hlinka is definitely a top contender this year. While other competitors might benefit by coming from larger scenes, the smaller scene in Slovakia and less exposure for Jan leaves him with a lot of room to roll in and surprise everyone. And while swagger will get you noticed, more than a few judges have crowned champions on skill + surprise.
With a solid 2nd Place finish at the 2013 European YoYo Championships, Plamek is not only a lead contender for the title but he’s also got the home-field advantage. While venue may not help much in yoyoing, being able to represent your country at a major event IN your country definitely boosts the confidence…and since Plamek already has the skill, that extra boost of confidence may be just what he needs to take home the gold.
With only an 11th Place finish at this year’s European YoYo Championships, Adrian Koniecki is an unlikely name on our list…but his play shows a ton of promise, and watching his freestyle you can see that he’s just on the edge of being a serious threat for the Top 3. He lost his nerve with a major mistake in the first minute of his finals routine at EYYC, but if he can keep it together and learn to recover quicker, we could easily see Adrian in the Top 3 at WFC.
Last year’s Polish National Champion Marcin Drzewiecki has kept a low profile this year, but it’s hard to deny his skill. Without recent contest standings to guess from, it’s hard to say what kind of a contender Marcin is going to be tomorrow. But with piles of talent, a home town crowd, and last year’s Polish National title under his belt, he’s got everything he needs to take home another win.
Marcin Fresel only took 17th Place at the 2013 European YoYo Championships, but watching the video above it’s hard to understand why. One of the most unique players in Poland, Marcin has a style all his own and trick construction that has tons of potential. If Marcin can speed things up a bit and get those points in, he stands a good chance at Top Five.
With a strong 6th Place finish at EYYC and a 1st Place win at the 2012 WFC, Michał Zakrzewski is one of the strongest contenders for the Top 3.
It’s REALLY hard to know what Kentaro is going to do! Competitively, his focus is primarily on 3A but he is such an effortlessly amazing 1A player that he can show up, completely unprepared, and land in the Top Five easily. Kentaro walked away from EYYC with 4th Place in the 1A Open division and rumor has it that he only decided to compete at the last minute and hadn’t prepared at all. No idea if that’s true, but Kentaro has the chops to pull if off and everyone else better bring their A-game.
Poland keeps making that extra effort to make yoyoing look good! Check out this promo video featuring some of the country’s top talent.
In order of appearance: Marcel Olubek, WFC3 Champion Michal Zakrzewski (YoYoFactory), former Polish champion Mateusz Ganc (YoYoFactory), European Champion Julia Gutowska (C3YoYoDesign), former European Champion Grzegorz “Plamek” Wójcik (C3YoYoDesign), old school legend Jakub Kedzierski (first Polish National Champion), Karol Kołota, and Emil Wójcik.
The band, Late Again, will also be performing live at the WFC4 afterparty in December!
On a related note, the first player in the video, Marcel, is competing at Poland’s Got Talent, and he’s qualified for the final round there! Check out his glow-in-the-dark semifinal routine here!
Rewind dropped a new player promo video, this one featuring C3YoYoDesign’s newest team member in Poland, Grzegorz “Plamek” Wojcik. This guy is a machine…all speed and precision and always worth watching. Enjoy!
The 2012 European Champion, 2013 runner-up, and 1A veteran superhero Grzegorz “Plamek” Wójcik has just been announced as the newest member of team C3yoyodesign!
The announcement was made earlier today in great style, with this eye-candy of a clip video from Backspin.
Plamek joins Julia Gutoswska and Maciek Cwynar in the Polish division of the impressive and ever-growing C3yoyodesign team!
The 2013 European Yo-yo Championship is just around the corner! With 150 players registered for 1A, competition will be fierce and furious. Who will come out on top? Here’s YoYoNews’ list of highlights:
We start out with the Europe’s biggest surprise of 2013, Norwegian marvel Magne Sætran. His first videos came out in the last days of 2012, and he’s already being considered a strong contender for the European title this year. His practice video above shows why. Can Magne become European Champion in his first contest ever?
Contrasting with Magne is the proven record of Polish veteran Plamek, winner of last year’s EYYC, and obviously a strong contender for this year as well. With more and more players taking competition seriously in Europe, the champion’s task will not be easy!
Another crowd favorite is Hungarian string charmer János Karancz. His unique style sets him apart from the crowd, and with support from his home turf in Budapest, János is Hungary’s biggest hope!
Last year’s runner-up and 2010 European Champion Vashek Kroutil is back for more! His contest experience and refined showmanship will be put to the test once again.
Another member of the all-star SLUSNY team from the Czech Republic is Petr Kavka. Petr had some excellent results in 2012 and if momentum means anything, he’s surely among the favorite!
Other strong contenders registered include 2011 European Champion Tomász Bubák, Iceland’s Palli Guðmundsson, Poland’s Michał Zakrzewski and Maciek Cwynar, Italy’s Riccardo Fraolini, Russia’s Maxim Gruzintsev, and UK’s Yuji Shimokawa Kelly.
The open international division is no sideshow, either, with World and National champions going up against each other. Here are just a few of them: Tyler Severance, Ben Conde, Ryosuke Iwasawa, 3A legends Kentaro Kimura and Taichiro Higashi, and the two most prominent “finger spinners” in the scene: Kohta Watanabe and Ethan “Momo” Wong.
Stay with us as we’ll be covering the contest as it unfolds next weekend!