He lost his sight, but a Michigan man’s on a roll with skateboarding, setting a Guinness World Record for an impressive trick.
Daniel Mancina, 35, broke the record for the longest 50-50 grind on a skateboard, according to Guinness World Records.
The Royal Oak native accomplished the feat in January, sliding on a rail for a total distance of 22 feet and 5 inches, Guinness announced Friday.
The athlete took up the sport at 13, the same age he was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a rare degenerative disease that affects the retina.
In just a year and a half, he lost vision in his left eye, and his skateboarding career quickly skidded to a halt.
A few years later, he picked up the board again, and filmed a video of himself performing using a bench he built — with the help of a cane to guide the way.
That inspirational clip was shared by the Tony Hawk Foundation and it gave Mancina the motivation he needed to return to the sport and learn how to navigate it — despite that he is now completely blind.
“I rely on my white cane the most, using it to scan my environment and to find obstacles while skating,” said Mancina, who earned a master’s degree in vision rehab therapy. “Being a blind skater, I have to take my time to feel obstacles and have a good understanding of them before I start skating.”
His future plans include surpassing his current record title and building a fully adaptive skate park.
“Once it’s built, I will host skating workshops for visually impaired and blind kids to introduce them to the world of skating,” he said. “I’m also working towards having skateboarding in the Paralympics. The goal is 2028.”