A walk in the park?
Our guide to everything you can expect when the park portion of the Olympics skateboarding programme gets underway at the Ariake Urban Sports Park in Japan. Tokyo 2020 marks the first time skateboarding has featured in the Olympic line-up and if the level of excitement on street competition was anything to go by it has already more than earned its place!
It may be a debut for the sport in an Olympic arena but there are a number of seasoned skaters to watch out for, including Lizzie Armanto - the US citizen is representing Finland, her father’s homeland, and brings a wealth of experience, including being the only female to complete the infamous 360 loop made famous by the legendary Tony Hawk.
Team GB’s hopes lie with 13 year old Sky Brown, the world’s youngest professional skateboarder and a gold medallist at this year’s X Games in California. Sky doesn’t have a professional coach, instead learning her tricks via YouTube videos (we love her style!) and briefly considered a surfing entry before securing her place in the team headed for Tokyo.
In the men’s competition, the main competition lies between Heimana Reynolds and Tom Schaar. Check out his pre-games thoughts on YouTube and his route to the games.
How will the competition run?
The park competition has its roots firmly planted in Venice Beach, and the track will recreate steep inclines and smooth walls of the pools in which the sport we all love originated. Points will be awarded for difficulty and originality, and competitors will have 45 seconds to impress a panel of five judges. The highest and lowest scores for each run are dropped, and the three remaining scores are averaged. A skater’s best score of the three will be the one that counts as the qualifying score.
We can’t wait to see what the competitors bring to the competition - what tricks are you hoping to see?! Ramp up your own skate look with our best-selling ranges.
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