Tony Hawk's Vert Alert skateboarding competition returns to Salt Lake City

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SALT LAKE CITY – Excitement is ramping up for a major skateboarding competition back in Salt Lake City. The 2025 Vert Alert, put on by sports icon Tony Hawk, began Friday at the Huntsman Center at the University of Utah.

Through Saturday, roughly 100 of the world's top skateboarding athletes are competing on Hawk's personal HuckJam ramp, all performing high-flying tricks, some as young as 12 years old.

Last year's winners, including Paris 2024 Olympic gold medalist Arisa Trew and 2024 Vert world champion Gui Khury, are both expected to return to defend their titles.

What's even more exciting for Utah is that the Utah Sports Commission helped create this event with Hawk and believes it's something the world will notice.

"The international traction having this event here – the imaging and the messaging it sends globally – continues to reinforce that this is not only a place for action sports, but this is the location for sports entertainment events," said Jeff Robbins, president and CEO of the Utah Sports Commission.

Where this event goes from here, the sky is the limit. The Utah Sports Commission said Hawk is trying to get this vertical event into the Olympics.

If you want to see it, doors opened Friday, and the event runs through Saturday.The competition is free, but you can buy VIP tickets if you want to meet Tony Hawk himself. Here's more information about the 2025 Vert Alert.

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Brian Carlson, KSLBrian Carlson
Brian Carlson is an award-winning Utah journalist, who has spent the last 16 years reporting in his hometown, but his time on television started much earlier than that. Born and raised in Utah, Brian got his first taste for on-air news at 8 years old being interviewed by KSL for knowing how to call 911 during an attempted home break-in. He began appearing regularly on TV in high school for an all-student run show on KUTV, then graduated from BYU in Broadcast Journalism. His professional TV career started in 2005 at KNDU in Kennewick, Washington. Brian moved back to Utah in 2008 reporting and anchoring for various shows at ABC4, and finally came to KSL in June 2024. In 2012, Brian won a regional Emmy for his report titled “Spice in the City,” in which Brian purchased drugs undercover and was instrumental in assisting police capture an illegal drug dealer. In 2014, Brian was the first TV reporter to tell the story of Ron Stallworth, a young black detective who infiltrated the KKK. Brian’s report became the catalyst to the Oscar award-winning film “BlacKkKlansman” directed by Spike Lee. In Brian’s career, he’s reported on everything from going behind the fire lines documenting the moment an elderly couple discovered they lost all they had in a Utah wildfire, to jumping out of an airplane, or gliding 57 mph down the Olympic skeleton track in Park City. Brian is also the only reporter to become an NBA mascot for a day, working with the former Utah Jazz Bear. Watching KSL5 News you can find Brian each week covering the latest news LIVE on location, including the devastating flooding in Orem, the Honie execution, or from the Utah GOP headquarters LIVE on election night, etc. Brian is happily married to his wife Liz and together they have an adorable son. He’s also stepfather to four children. Brian enjoys weightlifting, water sports, rock climbing, cheering on the BYU Cougars, and loves calling the Beehive State home.

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