Photo Bryce Kanights

 Disciplines Park and Street; The Berrics to Host Street Final, CA Training Facility to Host Park

Vista, Calif. (March 11, 2021) — Together with Toyota and The Berrics, USA Skateboarding - the governing body for skateboarding in the United States will move forward with a 2021 National Championships with a new format combining both digital video and an in-person Olympic-qualifying format. Originally scheduled as a live event for March, USA Skateboarding decided to pivot to virtual qualifying for the athletes' safety during the pandemic. Video submissions will be 45-second runs for both Park and Street at the skatepark of their choice with in-person finals 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 debut at the Tokyo 2020 Games this summer in Japan.

“With the health and safety of the skaters as our primary concern, we’ve had to adapt our National Championships to a format that works in the time of Covid,” said Josh Friedberg, CEO, USA Skateboarding. “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."

** More info coming soon on how/where to submit your videos! 

USA Skateboarding National Championships presented by Toyota Virtual Video and In-Person Finals Schedule

• 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 27 – May 30: Finals In-person, Street — The Berrics, Park — CA | TF

   

“Toyota is thrilled to partner with USA Skateboarding as presenting sponsor of the 2021 USA Skateboard- ing National Championships,” said Dedra DeLilli, group manager, Olympic and Paralympic Marketing, Toyota Motor North America. “As the landscape around sport competitions has rapidly evolved over the last year, we commend USA Skateboarding for pivoting to both virtual and in-person qualifying to ensure the safety of those involved and so that these elite athletes can compete at the highest level in pursuit of their Olympic dreams as skateboarding is set to make its debut at Tokyo 2020.”

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’re hopeful that there will be other Olympic Skateboarding Qualifying events before the Games — but with time running short, these National Championships will be one of the only opportunities for American Olympic hopefuls to compete prior to the Tokyo Olympics this summer.

USA Skateboarding will host the Junior and Adaptive National Championships this coming fall.