Paris 2024 Ultimate Guide: Everything you need to know about Olympic Skateboarding
Olympic skateboarding was one of five sports that debuted at Tokyo 2020.
Japanese skaters dominated in their home country, scoring three of the four gold medals on offer. Momiji Nishiya was just 13, winning gold in the women's street final.
Aussie Keegan Palmer took home the gold for the men's park event with a stunning 95.83 winning run that featured an impressive kickflip varial 540. The 18-year-old said his winning tricks were learned during the coronavirus lockdown, while the pandemic had shut down skating competitions.
Keegan Palmer of Team Australia competes in Tokyo. Getty
Who are Australia's skateboarding gold medal hopefuls for Paris 2024?
Keegan Palmer: Men's park
Arisa Trew: Women's park
Chloe Clovell: Women's street
How does Olympic skateboarding work?
Olympic skateboarding is made up of two key disciplines: street and park. The two events take place on different courses and require different skill sets.
Street
The street course is designed to replicate a real-world urban landscape, with skaters navigating stair sets, handrails, benches and ledges, alongside traditional skatepark elements like quarter pipes.
Shane O'Neill practices on the street course at Tokyo 2020. AP
Each skater performs two 45-second runs of the course followed by five tricks - each scored out of 100. The best run and the best two tricks are combined to give a final score out of 300.
A new rule called the Scoring Refusal Procedure will be introduced at Paris 2024. It will allow skaters to "scrub" a trick - indicated by putting their arms up in a cross formation. This means the judges don't score the trick and they are allowed to attempt it again without incurring a penalty for repetition.
Toa Sasaki scrubs a trick at the WST Lausanne Street 2023 final. Olympics Skateboarding
In the event of a tie, the skater with the highest scoring run is ranked first.
Park
The course for park events is a hollowed-out concrete bowl with distinctive design features like set-back walls, elevation changes and variable grinding surfaces. It allows the skaters to gain impressive speed and height to perform tricks mid-air.
The park course at Ariake Urban Sports Park at Tokyo 2020. SOPA Images/LightRocket via Gett
Skaters complete three 45-second runs, with the highest-scoring individual run determining the winner. In the event of a tie, the skater with the second highest-scoring run will be ranked higher.
What are the judges looking for?
The judges are awarding points for the overall impression of the performance with a variety of criteria in mind.
They are looking at execution and style which includes speed, height and how the skater sticks the landing. They are also looking for variety of tricks, how the skater uses the whole course and flow - which is how the tricks are strung together to complete a run.
When are the skateboarding events at Paris 2024?
Skateboarding events will take place at the pop-up open air arena La Concorde. According to Olympic organisers, the idea behind transforming the iconic Parisian square Place de la Concorde into an "urban" arena is to showcase sports like breaking, BMX and 3x3 basketball in their natural environment.
Artist impression of La Concorde Paris 2024
July 27, 8pm: Men's street prelims
July 28, 1am: Men's street final, 8pm: Women's street prelims
July 29, 1am: Women's street final
August 6, 8.30pm: Women's park prelims
August 7, 1.30am: Women's park prelims, 8.30pm: Men's park prelims
August 8, 1.30am: Men's park final
(Times are in AEST)
