Which Australian Skaters are going for Gold at the Tokyo Olympics?
The world Championships is officially done. It’s been a huge week of skateboarding with the worlds best street skaters battling it out for Olympic qualifier points in the final event before the Tokyo Olympics.
Watching the clips from practice in Rome it was clear everyone was determined. The level had seem to jump. No one was holding anything back anymore, it was all hammers, all the time. Amazing to watch.
The level of progression in the women’s side has been particularly inspiring. Over the past 2 years it has progressed about as much as men’s skateboarding achieved over the last 10 years. Seeing big spin front board slides, front krooks, and back smiths going down on a huge 10 stair rail was amazing. Huge respect for all of the women who have been stepping it up.
The Rome Contest was the World Championships and the final chance to qualify for the Olympics. Top 3 who podium got an automatic entry into the Olympics, and for everything else, it was all about adding vital points and securing their position in the world rankings.
World Skate won’t update their rankings for 30 days, so until we have that confirmation, the unconfirmed Olympic Athletes are as follows:
Mens Street Skateboarding:
Nyjah Huston
Yuto Horigome
Sora Shirai
Kelvin Hoefler
Gustavo Ribeiro
Aurelien Giraud
Jake Ilardi
Vincent Milou
Jagger Eaton
Matt Berger
Manny Santiago
Shane O’Neill (@shanejoneill)
Angelo Caro
Felipe Gustavo
Giovanni Vianni
Yukito Aoki
Micky Papa
Axel Cruysberghs
Jhancarlos Gonzales
Brandon Valjalo
Womens Street Skateboarding:
Pamela Rosa
Rayssa Leal
Aori Nishimura
Leticia Bufoni
Mariah Duran
Roos Zwetsloot
Candy Jacobs
Hayley Wilson (@hayleykwilson)
Alexis Sablone
Funa Nakayama
Keet Oldenbeuving
Momiji Nishiya
Marilyn Didal
Alana Smith
Wenhui Zeng
Lore Bruggeman
Julia Brueckler
Charlotte Hym
Asia Lanzi
Boipelo Awuah
What about Park?
So for Park, the last chance to qualify was at the Dew Tour contest in Des Moines, Iowa. 14 Aussie skaters headed over with hopes to compete and qualify however an unfortunate case of Covid ended up taking out the entire team from the contest. Tommy Fynn and Shane O’Neill were safe as they were staying in seperate accommodation so could compete in the Street contest, but for the rest of the team this was a gutting blow.
Keegan Palmer and Poppy Olsen were already qualified so they were 100% going.
Kieran Woolley has also made the cut which is awesome news. (Big thanks to Renton Millar for updating me on this!)
Follow them here:
The Aussie talent we have heading to the Olympics is right at the top level and all athletes have a solid chance of reaching the podium and bringing home a Gold medal which is amazing. The men’s street will be a tough contest with Nyjah and Yuto but we can all agree if I person can beat them, it’s an in-form Shane O’Neill.
Schedule. When is the Olympics?
The Schedule from the Olympics website is as follows:
All dates/times are in JST (Japanese Standard Time, which is 1 hour behind AEST)
Men’s Street | Sun 25 July 9:00 - 13:55
Venues: Ariake Urban Sports Park
Men's Street Prelims Heats
Men's Street Final
Men's Street Victory Ceremony
Women’s Street | Mon 26 July 9:00 - 13:55
Venues: Ariake Urban Sports Park
Women's Street Prelims Heats
Women's Street Final
Women's Street Victory Ceremony
Women’s Park | Wed 4 Aug. 9:00 - 13:40
Venues: Ariake Urban Sports Park
Women's Park Prelims Heats
Women's Park Final
Women's Park Victory Ceremony
Men’s Park | Thu 5 Aug. 9:00 - 13:40
Venues: Ariake Urban Sports Park
Men's Park Prelims Heats
Men's Park Final
Men's Park Victory Ceremony
What Can You Do To Support Them?
It’s been a tough challenge for all of these skaters to get to where they are and to qualify for the Olympics, and just as much hard work by all the skaters who didn’t qualify.
Go give them a follow on instagram, share their posts, comment, like, and give them support. It will all help their brand grow and the Australian Skate Industry grow which helps more people make a career in skateboarding. The more support we can give them at this Olympics, the more support and funding the industry will receive to continue to support upcoming skaters, contests and facilities.
Let’s get behind them!
(Current Street Contestants unconfirmed list, sourced from The Berrics. If you have any updates, mistakes or changes, please let us know! Cheers!)