Poppy Starr Olsen will become the first woman to represent Australia in Park skateboarding when the event makes its Olympic debut at Ariake Urban Sports Park.
Olsen, Australia’s top-ranked skater in Tokyo, had her final hit-out on the course at Ariake Urban Sports Park on Tuesday.
Drawn in Heat 4, Olsen faces a world class field in what is one of the most anticipated new sports at the Games.
The 21-year-old from Newcastle faces two of Japan’s biggest stars, 15-year-old world No.1 Misugu Okamoto (also drawn in Heat 4) and 19-year-old world No.2 Sakura Yosozumi, as well as world No.3, the 13-year-old British sensation Sky Brown, in a star-studded competition.
Olsen herself has achieved a proud record of success on her journey to the Games.
In 2016 she became the first Australian woman to compete in skateboarding in the Summer X Games. The following year she claimed bronze at the event, as well as silver at the World Roller Games in China.
Her remarkable journey to the Games has been captured in a documentary, Tall Poppy: A Skater’s Story, that chronicles her journey from an eight-year-old starting out at the skate park at Bondi, in Sydney, to forging an exciting career on the world skateboarding tour.
In the Park format, skaters perform three 45-second timed runs where they execute their best sequence of tricks on a course consisting of a traditional concrete skate bowl with features known as spines, gas, extensions, hips and banks. Judges score the competitors from 0-100.
The women’s preliminary heats start at 10am AEST with the top eight qualifiers progressing to the Final starting at 1.30pm AEST.
The men’s competition, featuring Australia’s Keegan Palmer and Kieran Woolley, will be held Thursday.
David Taylor
