Australian skateboarding’s new generation of world-class athletes have announced themselves on the biggest stage at the world championships in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
The combined street and park world championships was a key milestone on the path to Paris 2024, offering major ranking points which will determine the top 20 athletes per event that will qualify for the Paris Olympics.
Headlined by a world championship street silver medal from Chloe Covell, who turned 13 during the competition in Sharjah, the Australian team showed they are ready to match it with the world’s best.
In the women’s park competition, 14-year-old Ruby Trew from Sydney finished 10th with a score of 72.00, just missing out on the finals, while 12-year-old Arisa Trew from Cairns finished 20th.
Ruby said she had an incredible experience in Sharjah.
“It’s amazing to represent Australia again and finally get the Paris qualification period started,” she said.
“Australia took an expanded team with some great results and I’m really looking forward to the next qualifying events.
“One of my highlights was seeing so many young local girls getting into skateboarding. It’s been on a huge rise in Australia after the Tokyo Olympics and now I’m seeing local girls here in Sharjah getting inspired to be part of the sport.”
In the men’s park event Tokyo Olympic finalist Kieran Woolley finished fourth, just 0.50 outside the podium, while reigning Olympic champion Keegan Palmer finished 8th after taking an early fall on all three runs in the final.
15-year-old Ash Wilcomes finished 10th in the event, just missing the finals, and giving Australia the fantastic result of three top-10 finishers in the one event at the world championships.
Rome Collyer was the top-ranked male Australian in the street competition, with the 16-year-old finishing 20th.
With the top-20 ranked athletes per discipline at the end of the qualification period qualifying for Paris (with a maximum of three athletes per country per event), the raft of top-20 finishes is an encouraging sign early in the qualification period.
After two ranking events in women’s street, 13-year-old Chloe Covell, 19-year-old Liv Lovelace and 16-year-old Haylie Powell all sit within the top 20. The world championships was the first ranking event for park, meaning Ruby and Arisa Trew and the three male skaters all sit within the top-20 rankings.
With world cup events on the horizon, the Aussie skaters will be looking to show their prowess and climb the rankings even further in coming months.
Member of the Skate Australia High Performance Committee Corbin Harris is excited to see the future of skateboarding in Australia.
“The UAE put on an incredible contest and set the standard for skateboarding moving forward,” Harris said. “I was extremely proud as an Australian to watch our whole team work together setting a new benchmark for ourselves."
"Not going to lie we have work to do just like every other nation in skateboarding, but we have a solid foundation of amazing humans behind the scenes and some seriously talented athletes who can position us in a great spot for Paris, LA and of course our Olympics in Brisbane, Australia 2032.”
The next events where Aussie skaters can earn ranking points towards Paris 2024 qualification are the park pro tour event in Argentina in May for park, and the world skateboarding tour event in Rome in June for street competitors.
