Juni Kang, 18, Snags SLS DTLA in His First Competition

Saturday, April 4, 2026, Ace Mission Studios, Downtown Los Angeles. An 18-year-old Korean kid shows up for his very first Street League. He leaves with the win, a 9 Club score on his last trick, and Nyjah Huston’s respect. The story of a night that just redrew the hierarchy of global skateboarding.

⏱ Reading time: 5 min

The April 4th Thunderclap

Stop 02 of the 2026 Championship Tour was everything we expected. Sold out. Chris Joslin, Nyjah Huston, Jagger Eaton, Ginwoo Onodera on the roster. A legendary lineup in a Hollywood studio transformed into a park for the occasion.

Then the Wildcard Jam format spit out its verdict. Twelve skaters, thirty minutes of war, two qualified for the men’s final. Toa Sasaki (Japan) and Juni Kang (South Korea). No Nyjah. No Joslin. No Eaton. Bookmakers choked on their coffee.

The Final Run: 9 Club and 270 Board Slide

Kang dropped hammers early in the jam. A switch backside lipslide on the long rail, clean as a whistle. And when the final came, he saved the biggest for last. His final trick: a 270 board slide on the center rail, landed with an ease that makes no sense for an SLS rookie.

Score: 9 Club. Highest single-trick score of the day. And the icing on the cake: first rookie to win an SLS stop since Ginwoo Onodera. A very short list of kids who smash the circuit on their first try.

SLS DTLA 2026 Podium

On the women’s side, Chloe Covell continued her steamroll. 3-for-3 in the Takeover format since its creation, the Australian kid confirms she’s become the absolute benchmark in women’s skateboarding. Daniela Terol snags her first SLS podium in her first appearance. A day where the rookies took over.

What This Changes for the Season

The 2026 SLS circuit continues in May on the East Coast, then heads to Brazil in August, France in October (yes, France — back after the Paris 2024 Olympics effect), Japan in November, and the Super Crown in Brazil in December. Juni Kang just invited himself into the conversation for the world title, where everyone expected a Huston-Eaton-Onodera brawl.

As for boards, Kang skates on a classic street setup you can replicate without breaking the bank. His setup looks a lot like what we recommend in our 2026 beginner setup guide: 8.0 deck, medium trucks, hard 52mm wheels for technical street skateboarding. And if you want to see how the Japanese continue to dominate the world circuit, take a look at our analysis of Yuto Horigome’s style.

A name to remember: Juni Kang, 강준이 on Instagram. South Korea has its first real Super Crown contender. The world of skateboarding just shifted.