Skateboarding: 80 street and park skaters will compete for medals at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games | Photo: Macedo/SLS

Skateboarding will make its Olympic debut in Tokyo 2020.

Due to the global novel coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic, the Summer Games have been postponed to 2021.

The Olympic skateboarding program will feature 80 athletes evenly distributed across two disciplines and four events.

They are as follows:

1. Men's Park Skateboarding: 20 athletes
2. Women's Park Skateboarding: 20 athletes
3. Men's Street Skateboarding: 20 athletes
4. Women's Street Skateboarding: 20 athletes

As the host country, Japan has automatically qualified two male and two female competitors.

The remaining 76 skateboarders (19+19+19+19) will secure their qualification spots via:

1. World Skate (WS) World Skateboarding Championship Events | October 2019 - June 29, 2021

The three highest-placed athletes in each of the four World Skate (WS) World Championship events (men's street, women's Street, men's park, and women's park) held in 2021 will be secure a spot in the Olympic Games regardless of their placings on the Olympic World Skateboarding Rankings (OWSR) as of June 30, 2021.

2. Olympic World Skateboarding Rankings (OWSR) | As of June 30, 2021

Sixteen skaters will qualify based on their rankings on the Olympic World Skateboarding Rankings (OWSR) as of June 30, 2021.

Each country can only qualify a maximum of three athletes until the number of 16 athletes is reached, including continental places.

Each of the five continents is guaranteed one athlete per event.

The continental places will be allocated to the highest-ranked athlete(s) on the Olympic World Skateboarding Rankings (OWSR) from the continent(s) without representation, if available.

Ranking points for each athlete accumulate over the qualifying period.

The highest two points results from Season 1 (January 1, 2019 - September 30, 2019) will be added to the highest four points results from the Season 2 (October 1, 2019 - June 29, 2021) to define the riders' final position in the OWSR.

For each male and female street and park event, the three highest-placed athletes in the 2021 Season World Skate (WS) World Skateboarding Championship events and one host country place will secure an Olympic spot.

Skateboarding: ready to make its Olympic debut in Tokyo 2020 | Photo: World Skate

World Skate (WS) and Street League Skateboarding (SLS)

World Skate (WS) is the world governing body for skateboarding and roller sports. It is officially recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Street League Skateboarding (SLS) is the home of professional skateboarding. It crowns world champions in a competitive series held all over the world.

In April 2028, WS and SLS announced a partnership to set the qualification criteria and events for street skateboarding at Tokyo 2020.

The SLS World Tour is the now official WS professional skateboarding circuit.

Ariake Urban Sports Park: the skatepark has capacity to host 7,000 spectators | Photo: IOC

Venue and Judging Criteria

Skaters will compete for gold, silver, and bronze medals at the Ariake Urban Sports Park, a structure built in the heart of the Japanese capital.

The skating facility has capacity for 7,000 spectators.

Street skateboarding will be held in a course that mimics a real street while the park contest will take place on a hollowed-out, bowl-like course.

In the street competition, athletes will demonstrate a range of tricks when riding along a course with stairs, handrails, curbs, benches, walls, and banks.

Judges will be analyzing the degree of difficulty of the tricks, height, speed, originality, execution, and the composition of maneuvers before announcing each ride's final score.

In park skateboarding, riders will showcase their best mid-air tricks, which involve performing spins and rotations, and various other skills in a course that resemble a bowl and features steep sides.

In this division, judges will be paying attention to the variety of tricks, the degree of difficulty, the height gained launching out of the park's curves, originality of the maneuvers, trick variations, and the different grab techniques.

The speed and dynamic of tricks are a major feature of both street and park, and there will be music playing in the background at the Ariake Urban Sports Park.

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