Garcia sets high ollie world record

Neftalie William courtesy of Maloof SkateboardingAldrin Garcia snaps the world record with a 45-inch ollie.

On Tuesday at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, in the midst of the Magic tradeshow, 19-year-old Aldrin Garcia won the Maloof High Ollie Challenge with a whopping 45-inch ollie, setting a new world record. Garcia beat out regional qualifiers and professional skaters including Levi Brown, Steve Nesser and Torey Pudwill. Garcia took home $10,000 for his efforts and earned a spot in skateboarding's history books.

Before Garcia's monumental snap, the previous world record of 44.5 inches -- set by Danny Wainwright -- had stood since Feb. 6, 2000. There have been ollie contests since then where skaters have allegedly gone higher but the record was never officially broken.

In 2008, New York native Luis Tolentino allegedly snapped what many considered to be a 45-inch ollie at Billy Rohan's Rooftop Rampage skate contest. Tolentino was in attendance at the Maloof Challenge, and made the finals, but was out-ollied by Garcia.

Garcia was born and raised in San Diego county and is currently a sponsored amateur rider for Powell-Peralta skateboards, Bones wheels and Theeve trucks. In an interesting twist, Wainwright also rode for Powell at the time of his record-setting ollie.

"This is amazing," said Garcia after his win. "I'm hyped that I got to keep the world record in the Powell-Peralta family."

Prior to this contest, Garcia recently got some media attention for a frightening fall he took during the Crossroads Tradeshow and best trick contest on Jan. 28. Slipping out on a trick, Garcia hit the ground hard, was knocked unconscious and carried away on a stretcher.