Street Skateboarding Worlds Kick Off in Tokyo

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:29 JST, December 13, 2023

The qualifying rounds of the World Skateboarding Tour Tokyo Street World Championships kicked off at Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo’s Koto Ward on Wednesday.

Japan is hosting the world championships, supported by The Yomiuri Shimbun, for the first time.

Tokyo Olympic street skateboarding champions Yuto Horigome, 24, and Momiji Nishiya, 16, and about 200 other of the world’s best street skateboarders are competing in the championships, with the finals slated for Sunday.

Street skateboarding is held on a course resembling a city street, set up with handrails and stairs. The latest competition serves as a qualifier for the 2024 Paris Olympics, with up to three men and three women from a country or region able to earn the opportunity to compete at the Games.

Many Japanese street skateboarders are high in the world rankings on both the men’s and women’s sides, and the competition among them to qualify for the Paris Games is expected to be fierce.