The ESWC event for 2010 is now over and as the dust continues to settle, SK Gaming players are returning home after an extremely successful weekend for all of the players involved. Flying under the SK flag the teams and players managed to bring home two gold and two silver medals at one of the most competitive tournaments of the year, with championships in Quake Live and Counter-Strike: Female and runner-up finishes in Counter-Strike: Male and Need For Speed: SHIFT.

SK Gaming - 2nd place (Finals recap)

Despite losing out to Natus Vincere 2 maps to 1 in the finals of the male CS tournament, SK played extremely well and in making it to the finals secured themselves their best finish of the year with a silver medal at the event and a $18,000 check to go along with it.

The team started off the tournament strong finishing at the top of both the group stages going completely undefeated. They met who many felt were a lesser opponent in the American team of compLexity in the first round of the playoffs eliminating them from the event in a convincing fashion. SK then met two-time ESWC champions Frag eXecutors in the semi-finals where they surpassed their Polish opponents 2-0.

Moving into the finals SK was feeling confident as Na`Vi had just put out mTw in their semi-final match, a team which SK has had a tough time beating in the past. Unfortunately SK were not able to continue their momentum after a first-map win in the finals and Na`Vi ran over the team on de_train (16-5) and de_inferno (16-4) allowing Na`Vi to capture their second world championship of the year.

Shane 'rapha' Hendrixson - 1st place (Finals recap)

The impeccable consistency of SK's Quake Live player remained at this years ESWC as rapha defeated recent DreamHack winner Maciej 'av3k' Krzykowski 2-0 in the grand final. rapha showed poise and determination early in the tournament not dropping a map to either of his opponents in the first group stage.

Looking at the second group stage rapha continued playing well but did drop a game to Alessandro 'stermy' Avallone but still advanced as top 2 in his group. He then met fellow American Tim 'DaHanG' Fogarty in the first round of the upper bracket, rolling through the EG player 7-1 on tourney7 and 9-4 on dm6. rapha then found himself up against Polish super-star Maciej 'av3k' Krzykowski in the finals out-matching him in a convincing fashion; capturing his first ESWC gold and $8,000 to go along with it.

SK Gaming female - 1st place (Finals recap)

After defeating fnatic female in the grand finals of the female CS tournament, SK.Ladies cemented themselves in history by winning their third ESWC title under the SK name. With this championship under their belt, and a recent win at an Arbalet event, there is no doubt in anyone's mind that these ladies are the best female Counter-Strike players in the world.

SK Gaming female quite simply steamrolled their competition throughout the entire tournament going undefeated in the first two group stages and edging out Mousesports Ladies 2-1 in the play offs. The team met familiar Swedish rivals fnatic in the finals and defended their ESWC title while earning $14,000 in the process.

Danny 'HuskY' Engels - 2nd place (Finals recap)

Long time SK member and the master of racing games Danny 'HuskY' Engels brought SK their first podium finish of the event taking home $3,000 for his efforts. HuskY started off the Need For Speed: SHIFT tournament flawlessly going 3-0 in the first group stage putting himself in a great position going into the play-offs.

HuskY then met fellow German Niklas 'Sliver' Timmermann in the semifinals and managed to edge out his former SK teammate 2-1. This set up an all-star racing match up with Steffan 'Steffan' Amende of the Netherlands where unfortunately HuskY could not close it out, leaving him as a runner-up finisher in this years ESWC event.


Check out SK Gaming's galleries (day 1, day 2 and day 3), and videos from the event.