World Street Skateboarding Championships in 2023: Preview and stars to watch at the Paris 2024 qualification event
Olympic champions Horigome Yuto and Nishiya Momiji headline the street skateboarders heading to the Aljada skate park in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates where two new world champions will be crowned.
Skateboarding
Skateboarders, are you ready?
The World Street Skateboarding Championships are headed to Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, where over 270 street skaters will compete for the title.
The week-long contest running from 29 January to 5 February event will also double-up as a Paris 2024 Olympic qualifier meaning crucial ranking points handed out when the final results are in.
Just as with the first Olympic qualifier event in Rome, Italy, the competition proper will begin with a men and women's open qualfier with the top 32 advancing through to the quarterfinals. There, the skaters that are pre-seeded owing to their Olympic World Skate Ranking (OWSR) will join the competition phase.
The field will then be whittled down through a quarter-final and semi-final until just eight remain for the final on Sunday 5 February.
From Tokyo 2020 Olympic gold medallist Horigome Yuto to Brazil's fadinha Rayssa Leal, the world championship is stacked with stars as well as the next generation hopefuls looking to pierce their way to the top.
Here's your complete guide to the event, including schedule and the skateboarders to follow.
World Street Skateboarding Championships: Stars to watch
Men
With current world number one skateboarder Nyjah Huston out of action recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament tear sustained last year, it is highly likely that there will be a new skater on top of the men's rankings come the competition end in Sharjah - but the question is, who?
2021 world champion and Japanese Olympic gold medallist Horigome will be the first in line to challenge at the Aljada skate park.
The 24-year-old finished 2022 on a high, claiming two X Games medals, a Dew Tour second-place and two Street League Skateboard (SLS) titles. Given that he finished in eighth at the first Paris 2024 qualifier back in Rome last year, Horigome will be looking to improve this time out.
21-year-old Portuguese Gustavo Ribeiro and runner-up in Rome Aurelien Giraud are two skaters also capable of leapfrogging Huston.
Ribeiro's stocks soared last season after he won the SLS Super Crown following consistent wins across the tour stops, while France's Giraud flashed his ability to step up under pressure after he went toe-to-toe until the end with Huston in Italy. Throw in the extra incentive of a home Olympics in less than 18 months time for Giraud, and it's clear the Frenchman has all the more reason to seize upon Huston's absence.
Other names to watch out for will be all too familiar to those that follow elite street skating.
The enigmatic Australian Shane O'Neill is well-known to have the goods to impress the judges, as too does Olympic bronze medallist Jagger Eaton, who is on his own mission to qualify for the Olympics is both street and park disciplines.
There will be upstarts too eager to make an impression. Argentine Mauro Iglesias impressed the crowds in Rome enough to finish in fifth and enter Sharjah pre-seeded, while the US will be hoping their freshest new prospect Braden Hoban will be able to cause a stir.
Women
There was one skater that rocked the latter stages of 2022 and that was Brazil's Leal.
In a stunning run of form the 15-year-old swept SLS from start to finish, winning all four tour stops and the Super Crown final in front of home crowd in Rio de Janeiro. Her ability to serve up new tricks and deliver them consistently under pressure as shown through her results last year, mean she will be the one to stop in Sharjah.
Sure to push the Olympic silver medallist all the way will be the skaters from Japan.
At the first qualifier in Rome, the skateboarding powerhouse showed its impressive depth with five athletes out of a possible eight in the final before eventually securing an all-Japanese podium fronted by Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist Nakayama Funa.
With Olympic champion and 2022 Dew Tour winner Nishiya Momiji also in the mix, Team Japan has the calibre and the competition winners to bid for the world title.
A rising star worth keeping an eye out for is 13-year-old Chloe Covell of Australia.
After showing glimpses of her potential in Rome where she made the final eight, Covell went on to have a breakout year becoming the youngest ever athlete to bag two X Games podium finishes before the age of 13. Her form impressed so much, the teen was handed a wildcard to SLS Las Vegas and, showing the same fearlessness she had all season, she finished the contest in second place.
Other names that will be among the rest of the field trying to wrestle their way into the top eight include Brazilian Pamela Rosa and Margie Didal of the Philippines.
What is the seeding structure and who are the top five pre-seeded skateboarders?
The top five ranked athletes in the OWSR as of 15 December 2022 will skip the Open Qualifier and will be pre-seeded directly into the quarter-final.
Skaters ranked 6th to 30th will be seeded to the Open Qualifier.
Women
- Nakayama Funa (JPN)
- Nishiya Momiji (JPN)
- Oda Yumeka (JPN)
- Akama Rizu (JPN)
- Rayssa Leal (BRA)
Men
- Nyjah Huston (USA)*
- Aurelien Giraud (FRA)
- Gustavo Ribeiro (POR)
- Matias Dell Olio (ARG)
- Mauro Iglesias (ARG)
*Huston will miss the world championships due to injury.
World Street Skateboarding Championships 2023: Full schedule and start times
Schedule subject to updates, all times are in Gulf Standard Time (UTC +4).
Sunday 29 January
- Open practice sessions, men and women - 09:00 - 18:55
Monday 30 January
- Open practice sessions, men and women - 09:00 - 18:55
Tuesday 31 January
- Open practice sessions, men and women - 09:00 - 18:55
- Pre-seeded skaters practice - 19:00 - 20:35
Wednesday 1 February
- Women open qualifier - 09:00 - 14:15
- Pre-seeded skaters practice - 15:30 - 17:05
Thursday 2 February
- Men open qualifier - 09:00 - 20:15
- Pre-seeded skaters practice - 20:20 - 21:55
Friday 3 February
- Women quarterfinals - 10:00 - 14:35
- Men quarterfinals - 15:00 - 19:35
Saturday 4 February
- Women semi-finals - 15:00 - 17:45
- Men semi-finals - 18:30 - 21:15
Sunday 5 February
- Women final - 16:40 - 17:50
- Men final - 18:10 - 19:20
- Awards ceremony - 19:50 - 20:20
Street Skateboarding World Championships in 2023: Competition scoring and seeding
Open Qualifier: two runs of 45 seconds - best run counts
- Top 32 athletes per gender advance to the quarterfinal
Quarterfinal – two runs of 45 seconds – best run counts
- Top 16 athletes per gender advance to the semi-final
Semi-final – Olympic format 2/5/3 - best run plus two best trick scores
- Top eight athletes per gender advance to the final
Final – Olympic format 2/5/3 - - best run plus two best trick scores
How to watch Street Skateboarding World Championships in 2023 live
Coverage of the world street skateboarding championships will begin with the semi-finals on Saturday 4 February and will be available to stream live on the Olympic Channel via Olympics.com without geo-restrictions.
You can find all the latest on your favourite skateboarders including news, interviews and updates from Sharjah, on Olympics.com.