Daniel Mancina, 35, broke the record for the longest 50-50 grind on a skateboard, according to Guinness World Records.
Although the 35-year-old skater is globally recognised as the “Blind Skateboarder”, there was once a time when he was just a skateboarder. Growing up in Michigan, Mancina would snowboard as a young boy during the winter seasons. After reading in a magazine that skateboarding was a good way to improve his snowboarding skills during the summer, Mancina, who was only 13 at the time, spent more time on his skateboard.
Never having tried his hand at the sport before and not knowing what it truly meant to be a skater, he would simply roll the skateboard around. It wasn’t until he moved to a different neighbourhood during his middle school years and met a group of skaters that Mancina began to truly appreciate skating.
However, at just thirteen years old, doctors told him that he had an eye problem and would lose his sight. In just a year and a half, he lost vision in his left eye, and his skateboarding career quickly skidded to a halt. A few years later, as he thought of the passion he once felt for skateboarding, he decided to film himself performing a front board. The video was shared by the Tony Hawk Foundation, now known as The Skatepark Project. It gave Mancina the motivation he needed to return to the sport— despite that he is now completely blind.
“Being a blind skater, I have to take my time to feel obstacles and have a good understanding of them before I start skating,” said Mancina. “I rely on my white cane(手杖) the most, using it to know my environment and to find obstacles while skating.”
Daniel Mancina hopes to perform at the Paralympics in 2028. His future plans include surpassing(超过) his current record title and building a skate park. Once it’s built, he will host skating workshops for blind kids to introduce them to the world of skating.
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