Professional skateboarding comes with hefty medical bills, slams on concrete and a basis in the art of falling. The athletes who choose this sport are sadomasochists in search of rewards to compensate them for their hard work and constant injuries.

21-year-old Kevin Hoefler became $200,000 richer after Sunday’s win at the SLS Nike SB Super Crown World Championship at UIC Pavilion, and Leticia Bufoni, 22, won the women’s first-place prize of $30,000. Hoefler is the first rookie winner and Bufoni is the first women’s Super Crown champion in Street League history.

The competition consisted of three sections: a 45-second best run, a big section and a best-trick section, each working on a trick-to-trick format where only one skater is allowed on the course during each section.

While one athlete performs, the others wait. It’s head-to-head combat. Make a run, await the score, watch others perform, then attempt to top them again. There is little room for error, where something as minor as a bad start decides the winner. People of all demographics, schoolyard kids to old men, were on their feet savoring each flip and grind as rare treats.

Both the men and women’s portion came down to the last trick. The men’s portion came down to Nyjah Huston and Hoefler. Going trick for trick, the competition ended in a difference of 0.1 points between first and second place, Hoefler the victor. For the first ever women’s portion, Bufoni’s 360-degree flip helped close the gap between first and second place on her final attempt after she failed on her previous two attempts. She celebrated with an end-zone spike of her skateboard.

Huston, the winningest athlete on the skateboarding circuit, was greeted with a standing ovation before his attempts. But praises aren’t reserved for only those with experience. Those whom enter the “9 Club” – tricks good enough to earn a score above a 9.0 – were greeted with roars of awe from spectators within the crowd.

Chris Cole’s failed fifth attempt for third place with a fakey big-spin heel flip or Hoefler’s and Luan Olivera’s entry into the 9 Club were huge feats. Shane O’ Neill’s 3rd best-trick attempt scored an 8.8 and the fans felt cheated as an army of boos that echoed throughout the arena.

But the arena was a place for respect and admiration. Competitors congratulated competitors, fans praised all skaters who deserve the applause and judges were held accountable for scoring appropriately.

The SLS Nike SB Super Crown Championship is the Super Bowl of skateboarding, unlike the X Games, where skateboarding is only a section, a side stage at the music festival.

At the Super Crown, skateboarding was the festival. It was created for skateboarding with the purpose of promoting it and placing the sport on the main stage for the world to see.

As Super Crown skater Paul Rodriguez told a reporter during the first-ever Super Crown Event two years, “It’s done in such a way that makes street skating feel like proper sport – as opposed to, like, a circus sideshow.”