Chris Joslin’s “My War” is not just a clip you casually scroll past.
It is a story that stretches across years, injuries, second thoughts, and unfinished business at one of skateboarding’s most talked about spots, El Toro.
What many people did not realize is that Joslin had already been to El Toro long before this year.
His first real attempt goes all the way back to 2016.
He was only 19 at the time and already eyeing a 360 flip down the famous gap. Back then, he came close more than once.
The landings were near, the commitment was there, but things kept going wrong.
One board snapped, then another. Even with two boards on hand, luck was not on his side. The attempts came with heavy falls, and he walked away with a badly swollen hip.
Years later, life looked very different.
After his daughter was born, El Toro started calling him back. He returned with the same trick in mind, still focused on landing the tre flip clean.
This time, Ryan Sheckler was there to support him, and Joslin showed up better prepared with three boards instead of two.
He put everything into it and finally rolled away, but the landing was not what he wanted. The board shifted, his balance pivoted, and it felt shaky.
Some skaters would have taken that as a make and moved on. Joslin could not. He knew it was not clean, and that thought stayed with him.
In his mind, he believed he could do it properly, without the sketchy roll away. Eventually, he shared the footage online, almost as a way of closing the chapter.
Releasing the clip felt like saying this is as close as I got.
If someone else wants to try it and do it better, go for it. But that kind of thing has a way of circling back. The idea that he left something unfinished kept creeping in.
Around that time, a Matthew McConaughey quote kept popping up on his Instagram feed. "If you are going to do it, do not half do it." That message stuck. It hit him at the right moment, and it flipped a switch.
So he went back for a third try.
By 2025, a lot had changed mentally and physically. He was sober, training consistently, and in a much better place health wise.
He was also dealing with the loss of his grandmother, which added another layer to everything he was carrying with him. All of it came together when he stood at the top of El Toro again, focused and clear headed.
This time, things clicked. The tre flip finally came together the way he always knew it could. Clean, controlled, and undeniable.
Years after first stepping up to the spot, Joslin landed an NBD at one of skateboarding’s most respected gaps.
The Joslin vs El Toro war captures more than just a trick. It shows how long it can take to finish something you start, and how sometimes walking away does not mean it is done forever.
Joslin proved that with patience, discipline, and belief in yourself, unfinished business can still be settled.