Intervew with Zoltan Torkos

Over the past couple of days, the internet has been buzzing with the news of Zoltan Torkos landing surfing’s first official kickflip. His video on YouTube has gone viral, gaining over 250,000 views in only a few days. I thought I’d shoot Zoltan an email and see if I could ask him a few questions about the whole deal. Well, he got back to me and cleared up a few things, including: what he thinks about Volcom not giving him the cash, the move being called a “Reimer Flip” not a kickflip, and most importantly, the story behind his first name. Read the interview below.

SURFBANG: You stomped the kickflip! How’s it feel?
Zoltan Torkos: It feels like an alien abduction. Stoked to see the kickflip become a reality for surfers.

SB: How many overall attempts do you think you did before you finally landed it?
ZT: I must have ate it or came close about 7-8 times right before that.

SB: You’re all over the internet now. Has your phone and email inbox been been crazy?
ZT: Yeah, I can’t believe the attention. I have had a bunch of interviews and promotional offers. I’m really excited. Today (March 8th) it is the “promoted video” in the sports category on YouTube. It has about 200,000 hits in just a few days. Skaters I think are loving this the most. Everyone always said it was not possible. I skate all the time and I think it exemplifies the evolution of surfing. Surfing inspired skating and now skating has inspired surfing. Surfing has had a slow progression when other sports like skating and snowboarding are always progressing.

SB: In skateboarding it’s called the kickflip, do you have any plans on renaming the trick for the surfing world?
ZT: The last time I saw one of my best friends Carl before he died, he told me I could pull it if anyone could. I’d like to dedicate this trick to my late friend Carl Reimer and call it a “Reimer Flip” for inspiring me to do it.

SB: Do you ever see the flip ever becoming part of a pro surfer’s normal bag of tricks?
ZT: Yes, maybe surfing can finally be a legitimate sport people want to watch. I want to see surfing in the Olympics and back in the X-Games.

SB: Volcom has said that you weren’t completely above the lip and therefore don’t qualify for the 10 grand. What are your thoughts on that?
ZT: I’ll let the world be the judge. I just want to keep revolutionizing surfing. Everyone everywhere I go right know keeps claiming I should have won. I am just stoked.

SB: Zoltan is a pretty rad name, what’s the story behind it?
ZT: My Dad is Hungarian and my Mom is a Magician. And I like Japanese fighting robots, so it seems natural.

SB: Anything you want to tell everyone that you haven’t said yet?
ZT: Hey kids go shoot a picture not a person. Pull a trick not a trigger. You are the future, I believe in you.

A big thanks to Zoltan for answering my questions!

Turns out Volcom thought it over and decided to award Zoltan the $10,000!

From Volcom.com:

“After further review Volcom has decided to reward Zoltan the $10K for his groundbreaking maneuver, and at the same time redefine the rules and double the prize money on the elusive “above and off the lip kickflip” now worth $20,000.”

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