Guide To Olympic Skateboarding
Considering skateboarding was once illegal in certain countries, it's come a long way to set itself up in the Olympic Games. Its addition shows the progression that the Olympics has made and also the extent to which the sport has developed and earned respect. Along with surfing and climbing, the inclusion of skateboarding isn’t without controversy and split opinions, but we at TSA are stoked to see the worlds top skaters show the best of the sport on the world’s biggest stage.
For those that are new to competitive skateboarding, you may be wondering how it all works. Or even if you’re an avid follower of the sport, you might be wondering what competition format the Olympics have chosen. Fortunately, we’ve put together this comprehensive guide to Olympic skateboarding to help clear things up.
General Information – When, Where and What?
There are two different disciplines of skateboarding in the Olympics, street and park. Both are going to be held at the Ariake Urban Sports Park in Tokyo. The street competition is due to be held on the 25th and 26th of July, and the park competition will follow on August 4th and 5th.
The street skateboarding competition is held on a plaza style course, familiar to anyone who has been to a skatepark before. Comprised of stairs, rails, curbs, walls, benches and slopes, skaters pick their own line through the features. The Olympic venue is expected to be twice the size of a standard skatepark and packed full of big features for the worlds best to show what they can do.
The park skateboarding competition is based around smooth bowls. The features will reflect the roots and origins of the sport which developed through skating drained swimming pools around Venice Beach. Steep curved inclines allow skaters to boost high and pump speed, with some similarities to halfpipe snowboarding. Riders again are free to choose their own line through the park.
How Olympic Street Skateboarding Is Scored
The street competition comprises of two rounds: the prelims and finals.
All 20 skaters compete in the prelims, being split into four heats of five skaters. The top eight ranking skaters from across the heats progress through to the finals.
In each heat, skaters will lay down two 45 second runs and have five best trick attempts. The panel of five judges score the runs/tricks on a scale from 0 – 10.0. The highest and lowest scores for each run/trick are dropped, leaving the average of the three remaining scores as the final result. The skater’s four highest scores from across their best trick attempts and/or runs are added together to create the final result.
How Olympic Park Skateboarding is Scored
Similarly to street, the park competition takes place over two rounds, the prelims and the finals.
For the prelims, all 20 skaters will compete across four heats of five skaters. The top eight skaters from the combined ranking of the heats will make it through to the final.
For each round, the skaters have three 45 second runs, with their best scoring run counting as the final result. There are five judges who score the runs on a scale between 0 and 100.00. For each run, the highest and lowest scores are removed, with an average of the three remaining scores being the result.
How do skateboarders qualify for the Olympics?
Split across two seasons beginning in 2019, there have been a number of Olympic qualifying eligible events where each skater's final position earns them points towards the Olympic World Skateboarding Rankings.
There are 20 athlete spaces in each of the men’s and women’s Park and Street events. The first three spaces are allocated to the three highest finishing skaters from the 2021 World Skateboarding Championship events. There is then one place guaranteed for the highest-ranked host country skateboarder if they have not already qualified. The remaining sixteen places are then filled by the top sixteen ranked skateboarders in the Olympic World Skateboarding Rankings. Each country is allowed only three skaters in each event, and every continent must be represented.
Which UK Skateboarders Are Going To The Olympics?
It is worth noting that the official announcement of the Team GB skateboard team is not expected until July 1st and will be the result of a joint decision from Team GB and Skateboard GB. However, with the final Olympic World Skateboard Rankings now published, we do have a pretty solid idea of who has met the qualification criteria and therefore who is likely to be representing GB at the Olympics.
12-year-old Sky Brown is all but confirmed to be GB’s skateboarding star at this summers games. Currently ranked as the 3rd best female skateboarder in the world, Sky may be the youngest competitor on the international circuit but she consistently performs at the top level. Most recently she finished 2nd at the Dew Tour Skateboard Park final. It’s expected that Sky will represent GB in the Park competition and there’s no doubt that she’ll have high hopes of a podium finish.
Just three years her senior, 15-year old Bombette Martin is next on the expected Team GB skateboard roster. Having finished just outside of the top 20 on the Olympic Skateboard rankings, with countries restricted to a maximum of three representatives, Bombette has secured a qualifying spot. She’ll also be expected to represent GB in Park.
Street Skateboarder Alex Decunha narrowly missed out on a top twenty spot, missing the Olympic qualifying group by just a few points. So unfortunately, it looks like there will be no male skater representing GB at this years games.
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