This swag-laden Russian burst onto the European scene a few years ago in some style. He rocked up to the Nike Stairset Battle tour stop in Finland, and proceeded to beat the Scandis on their home turf – no mean feat given how many shit-hot riders there are in Finland. He was quickly snapped up by Forum, and has been impressing everyone with his rail tech-wizardry and gangsta steeze ever since, eventually landing a place on the Nike team. Having mastered every spin in/spin out variation, he’s now started getting a little creative, throwing a whole bunch of hand drags and plants into the mix.

He’s always the dark horse to look out for at rail jams, already making a fair splash at Rock a Rail and Hot Dogs and Hand Rails so far this season. We like Denis because he manages to push rail riding to its limit (540s on are the equivalent to triple cork on jumps in our book) but rarely looks scrappy. Thugs just don’t. Not ever.