The Skateboard GB Team will be competing at the Dew Tour in Des Moines, Iowa, USA this week (from 20th May 2021), aiming to gain vital points to push them closer to Olympic qualification.
The event is the first international skateboard competition in over 18 months and will feature both street and park disciplines at the same event. The venue is the largest skatepark in the USA and has been built specifically for this event.
In her last international event, Sky Brown produced her best ever competition run, winning bronze at the World Championships in Rio De Janeiro, and cementing her ranking as 3rd best in the world. The recent cancellation of the final Skateboard Park World Championships, will mean that this is the last international skateboard park competition before the Olympic games.
Over the last 12 months Sky has been training with legendary pro skater Tony Hawk at his private facility in California and more recently has been seen riding at Elliot Sloan’s mega ramp, which is one of the only large-scale launch ramps in the world.
GB Street Skateboarder Alex Decunha is currently ranked 23rd in the world (on a clean list) and is just a few points off the Olympic qualifying group. Last month Alex won the Skateboard GB x Habito National Championships in Manchester, with 2 stand-out runs in the final. He will also be competing at the Skateboard Street World Championships in Rome next month and a strong finish in both events would see him potentially qualify for the Summer Games in Tokyo.
The Tokyo 2021 games will have 2 skateboarding disciplines, with 20 places for each event:
– 16 athletes will qualify through the Olympic World Skateboarding Rankings, by gaining points from competing a various Olympic qualifying events throughout the qualification period.
– 3 athletes will directly qualify as the highest-ranked skaters at World Skateboarding Championship events.
– 1 place will be reserved for the host nation of Japan.
Each country is allowed 6 men and 6 women for skateboarding, but no more than 3 athletes per gender, per event. For example, Brazil may have 7 skaters in the top 16, but only the first 3 of those 7 will qualify.
Bombette Martin, Jordan Thackeray and Alex Hallford will also compete for GB in the Park Events at the Dew Tour, which takes place in Iowa between 20th – 23rd May 2021.