Olympics Update: Team U.S.A. & Toyota Announce 2021 National Championships Schedule
Pushing For Gold episode 6: ‘The Future Starts Now’
U.S.A. Skateboarding and Toyota announced this morning that the 2021 National Championships are officially a go! We’re super excited to be a part of the scheduled events, in a pioneering format that combines digital video AND in-person Olympics qualifiers. Due to COVID concerns, the organization made the decision to reschedule this month’s rollout in April instead—better safe than sorry!
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!
The rescheduled events were obviously necessary, and Josh Friedberg, the CEO of U.S.A. Skateboarding, notes that shifting the dates has additional benefits: “The good news is that American skaters will still have a chance to earn Olympic Qualifying points in an open and accessible qualifying process that will give skaters from all over the country a chance to participate in the National Championships alongside some of the best skaters in the world.”
See the schedule, below:
April 9 – April 22: Open Qualifying Video Submissions
April 23 – April 26: Open Qualifying Judging
April 27 – May 3: 36 Quarterfinalists Announced, Quarterfinals Video Submissions
May 4: Quarterfinals Judging
May 5 – May 11: 20 Semifinalists Announced, Semifinals Video Submissions
May 12: Semifinals Judging
May 13: 8 Finalists Announced
May 6 & 7: The Berrics, street finals; May 8 & 9 CA Skateparks training facility, park finals.
(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.)
We’ve had the pleasure of working with Team U.S.A. for our ‘Pushing For Gold’ Olympics series. Watch the first five installments, below (and episode 6, above):
