Skateboarding Legend Tony Hawk Skates First-Ever Horizontal Loop, Sony Promo

Tony Hawk continues to defy not just age, but gravity, too. In a recent promo for Sony's latest attempt at GoPro innovation (The camera is little and can attach to things, but it's new and different?), Hawk sets up a sideways spiraling structure and skates it-—by all accounts completing the first-ever horizontal loop.

"People keep asking me questions like, 'How do you approach it?'" Hawk said in the video for Sony. "I don't know. I'm just going to find out the hard way."

Which he did. He took slams that saw him yell out in frustration, or pain, or both. There were falls that'd make a lesser man whimper away to a dark corner in need of an ice pack—or an ice cream. And there were moments that had us unquestionably questioning the meaning of four wheels and a board. But Hawk pressed on. And, of course, succeeded.

This is impressive for many reasons. We'll pinpoint a couple. For starters, Tony Hawk is 47. At that age, most are more suited for a nice round of golf, or a good hike—not necessarily aggressive hugs with a hardwood floor. He's also technically been retired from the sport since 1999, putting him a good 15-plus years past his prime. But with Tony, numbers never matter. And neither do outrageous ideas.

Hawk had done an upside down spiral years before, so naturally this came as the next progression. You can almost see Tony's mind working on the next idea in the video—with wild images of him spiraling down the sideways structure only to shoot out of the bottom with a good head of steam surely consuming his thoughts (an image not too dissimilar from those funnel like devices you roll pennies down at the mall). Which might come across as an outrageous thing to do for most, but it's par for the course for the man who landed the first ever 900.

For now, Tony skates on and continues to push the boundaries of skating—as well as conventional wisdom. Enjoy it. Get used to it. At this rate, he'll be doing crazy stunts until he's 90. Actually, make that 100. It's Tony, after all.