Alexis Sablone Skate-Coaches ‘Today’ Show’s Hoda & Jenna
WBATB‘s Alexis Sablone recently accepted the job of skate-coaching the Today Show‘s Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager, and it was definitely a sight to see. It’s actually a great reminder that anyone—like, literally, ANYONE—can skate and have fun. Thanksfully, Sablone kept the TV show hosts’ expectations low and, as a result, nobody gets hurt (but the ratings would have gone through the roof if Hoda scorped). We did notice that Hoda is repping Anti-hero, though… Hoda ‘Battle Scars’ coming soon(ish)?
Side note: It’s kinda funny that when Sablone appears in mainstream content like this she’s always introduced as “MIT graduate Alexis Sablone”, but within skate circles it’s usually “PJ Ladd’s Wonderful Horrible Life‘s Alexis Sablone”. Some milestones just hit different.
Speaking of the Olympics: Today’s the deadline for National Championships submissions! U.S.A. Skateboarding‘s Josh Friedberg sat down for a recent video explaining the process. Here are the Cliff’s notes:
Video submissions will be 45-second runs for both Park and Street at the athletes’ preferred skatepark, with in-person Finals events following Olympic event formats. The top-12 ranked Americans will be pre-qualified into the quarterfinals; points awarded to the finalists will count towards World Skateboarding Rankings and Olympic qualifying. Men’s and Women’s Skateboard Park and Street events will make their Olympic debuts at the Tokyo 2020 Games this summer in Japan!
(Skateboarders currently have the opportunity to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics based on their two best results in World Skate sanctioned events during the 2019 qualifying season—ended September 30, 2019—combined with their four best results during the 2020 – 2021 qualifying season ending June 30.) All it takes is an unedited :45 second video, in Men’s or Women’s, Street or Park, and you could be on your way to skate in the Finals live at The Berrics (Street discipline) on May 6 & 7, or the CA|TF (Park discipline) on May 8 & 9. Full entry details USASkateboarding.com—so, what are you waiting for? Get out there, submit your run, and be a part of skate history!
Sablone was in the Finals for the inaugural Women’s Battle At The Berrics last year. Watch the journey to her championship match, against Monica Torres, below:
