So how does Skateboarding Olympic Qualification work?
It was recently announced that Skateboard GB has been confirmed as the recipient of UK Sport Aspiration Funding which will enable up to five British skateboarders the opportunity to attend Olympic qualifying events with the hope of taking part in the inaugural Olympic skateboarding event at the Tokyo 2020 Games.
The UK Sport Aspiration Fund was created to give opportunities for more athletes, from more sports the opportunity to pursue their Tokyo 2020 ambitions. In the UK, these five skateboarders will receive this funding to help pay for travel, accommodation and entry fee’s into national and international competitions. Other British skateboarders will still be able to qualify through Skateboard GB, but will need to fund their own costs, unless additional sponsorship can be found.
In a bid to de-mystify how skateboarders can qualify for the Olympic Games, here’s a quick guide to the process.
There are two disciplines of skateboarding at the Olympics; Street and Park. 20 males and 20 females compete in each category, so there will be 80 skateboarders in total at the Games.
In order to get to the Games, a skateboarder has to be ranked in the top 20 skateboarders in the World in their discipline at the end of the Olympic qualification period. This will be based on the number of points a skateboarder has earned at the qualifying events.
The qualification period is divided into two seasons: Season 1 (01/01/2019 – 15/09/2019) and Season 2 (15/09/2019 – 31/05/2020).
Each national team will be able to send skateboarders to attend the following qualifying events, during each season:
- World Championship
- Tour Events
- Five Star Events
- Continental Championships
- National Championships
The value of events, when it comes to point-earning for World Skateboarding Ranking (WSR), is scaled and based on where a skateboarder finishes at an event and will determine the number of ranking points they receive.
Street and Park will have their separate ranking system and every skateboarder will be ranked with his or her combined 9 best results over the two seasons of the qualification period: 3 best results of season 1 and 6 best results of season 2.
For the World Championships in 2020 of both disciplines, there is a guarantee of direct qualification to the Olympic Games to the podium skateboarders of both genders.
A maximum of 3 skateboarders can qualify from any one country for each discipline and gender. There must also be at least one skateboarder from every continent. The host country, Japan, gets an automatic slot for each event because they’re the home nation.
A final ranking table will be produced by World Skate after 31st May 2020 to determine who actually qualifies for the 2020 Olympic Games.
Skateboard GB are really grateful to UK Sport for allocating the funding to allow up to five British skateboarders the opportunity to qualify for the Olympic Games. An announcement of who those five skateboarders are, will be made on the 14th March 2019.