Hailing from sunny Spain, Carlos Bernal is a strictly street skater with a classic approach to spots known for his penchant for breakneck tricks over risky obstacles. He has forged a remarkable path in his career over the past few years, and his many achievements include the prestigious honour of receiving two signature Carbon Free models from long-time sponsor USD. In today's entry, we'll try to give you a little background on Carlos, take a look at his approach to skating and also focus on his current USD pro model, which this time is based on the new USD Sway skates in rather debatable colours.
Beginnings & inspirations
In a world filled with countless extraordinary skaters, Carlos Bernal nevertheless stands out and can boldly exemplify the development of one of the future directions of the sport. His exceptional level of skill, combined with his constant pursuit of dangerous evolutions executed flawlessly with textbook precision, demonstrates the possibilities that can be achieved through an unwavering dedication to perfecting his craft.
When starting out as an aggressive skater, Carlos was inspired by classic old video productions such as Denial Underestimated or the VG or Hyphy series, which focused on technical skating and challenging spots. From a young age, he admired characters such as Aaron Feinberg, Carlos Pianowski or Demetrious George, and dreamed that he could one day follow in their footsteps. Even when so-called 'hammer skating' was no longer popular, Carlos invariably honed his skills to continue to promote this distinctive approach to aggressive inline skating.
An important factor in Carlos' development was definitely the fact that he came from Barcelona, the Spanish mecca of street sports, often referred to as the European California. Barcelona has always had a strong inline scene (Michel Prado, Sacha Lopez, Yuri Botelho, Paco Rey, Marbin, Richard Vazquez or, of course, Marc Moreno and the whole Balas Perdidas crew), so from his first moments on skates Carlos was capably looked after. What's more, skating every day with the numerous visiting skate crews that regularly visited the venue, he had the chance to experience every kind of skating at the highest level. Such experiences undoubtedly motivated young Carlos to raise his level, and Barcelona's fantastic and diverse architecture offered him a great place to train.
Contests
Our unconventional skater also has a huge fascination with competitions, especially the street ones. On his account we can find victories in events such as NSS Cordoba (2015), Mora Faya — Valencia (2016), Battle Rail Barcelona (2017), Barcelona Street Contest (2018) or the title of “X-crews Skater of the year”. An important part of promoting himself was also his small tour of California in 2018, where he left quite an impression, literally destroying all the classic spots with powerful tricks that the scene there had not witnessed for years.
However, his most notable achievement to date is probably the release of the groundbreaking City Fade profile video, which took an arduous two years to create. The City Fade video took a long time to finalize because of the numerous other projects Carlos was involved with. In addition to filming promotional footage of his models for USD, Carlos also underwent wrist surgery during the production. The video was filled with a lot of tricks that at first seemed impossible to perform. However, after multiple attempts and sessions to specific shots and a huge commitment from film-maker Teles Angel, an amazing end result was achieved. An interesting element of City Fade is the division of the footage into two parts: the first shot during the day and the second at night. Although the second part seems initially easier in terms of tricks, Carlos explicitly mentions that it was the night shots with intense artificial lighting that gave him the most difficulty. One clip he is particularly proud of is the street backflip. Carlos had long dreamed of filming a sequence with this rare street trick, plus he managed to do it in a longer line.
As we can see, Carlos Bernal is undisputedly a skater who has achieved a great deal in our world over the last decade, maintaining a level to which many definitely aspire. It is therefore no surprise that for the 2023 season, the USD brand is offering another skate bearing his name, but this time based on the USD Sway model. This situation is most likely due to the declining interest in the USD Carbon and USD Carbon Free models. The skates, which used to be the flagship products of the German brand, are unfortunately becoming less and less popular with the big comeback of the 90s and the growing popularity of the classic Sway designs. There's no denying that the USD Sway offer a much more versatile fit to the foot, without the need for a long period of getting used to. In addition, for many of us the option of an interchangeable liner is a key feature of an aggressive inline skate, which not only extends the life of the skate, but also allows us to choose the model that best meets our expectations.
USD Sway Carlos Bernal
Carlos's USD Sway is intended as a reference to the colourful 90s — the shell is a dark purple colour with a contrasting neon green soul plate of the second generation. In the refreshed soul plate version we can already count on complete protection of the shell (the USD Sway soul plate in version 1.0 “ended” before the very tip of the shell, theoretically exposing it to a greater risk of damage) and a slightly more streamlined shape, giving the whole boot a completely new slim silhouette. If we look closely at the pictures, we can also see that the liner is a special version of the Myfit 2nd Skin model with reflective-holographic edging. The liner still covers a double size range and, equipped with an independent lacing system, offers the well-liked patent of connecting the shell and liner with a single lace, significantly increasing their responsiveness. This feature, combined with the external 45-degree Velcro strap, will perfectly secure the position of our ankle.
Like Carlos' previous model, the USD Sway Bernal is an all-terrain friendly flat setup on eight USD 61 mm wheels and the classic Kizer Fluid V frames that favour this setup. This is another big plus, as they are known for their unprecedented stiffness and can give a massive speed boost. Also, worth mentioning is the fact that the skate is fully compatible with the UFS system, which means it is fabulously easy to swap the frame for something with bigger wheels. Offering great support, the Sway can therefore easily be transformed into a high-end skate for dynamic urban skating!
The aforementioned colour mix used for the USD Carlos Bernal model has so far caused a lot of divided opinions — but the wide availability of Sway skate spare parts such as cuffs, buckles and soul plate gives you the opportunity to dramatically change the look of the skate to suit your own tastes. The replacement process is very simple and requires no tools other than those included with the skates.
In summary, the USD Sway Carlso Bernal models are an excellent choice for skaters who are looking for versatile, slightly wider shells, while still valuing high quality components. If the compact USD Aeon shell isn't right for our feet, or we don't want to take the time to fit advanced solutions like the USD Carbon, the USD Sway offers exceptional value for money. A versatile, upgradeable inline skate, that provides comfort and durability without putting too much strain on our wallet.
