The world of competitive yo-yoing is a wondrous, mystical place — and for the second straight year champion Evan Nagao has blown our mind with “Freebird.”
America’s yo-yo patriot just won another national championship with ‘Freebird’
Mind blown.
James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.
Nagao was named U.S. champion for the second time in two years, and he performing a routine to “Freebird” both times. We first saw Nagao’s routine last year, and since then I’ve been obsessed with watching his astounding ability.
On Reddit he held a little Q&A about his routine, and what made it so difficult.
Can you point out the hardest trick in your performance?
“By far 1:38 The part where I whip the yo-yo into triangle formations under my legs and behind my back. Not only is this a really tough trick, but if any of the formations are dropped at that point, it creates a knot in the axel, which means I have to switch out the yo-yo, and for the most part, lose the entire contest. Very high risk, and very high reward.”
I can’t even walk the dog.
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