Aoi Uemura - Rockstar Open, Portland - Womens_Street

Women's Skateboard Street Podium at the 2024 Rockstar Energy Open. L to R: Miyu Ito, Aoi Uemura and Pamela Rosa. Photo Credit: Getty Images for Rockstar Energy Open.

Portland, Oregon (August 25, 2024) - The third and final day of the Rockstar Energy Open concluded at the historic Waterfront Park in downtown Portland. The Men’s Park Final, Men’s and Women’s Skateboard Street took center stage in front of a packed venue. 

In the Women’s Street Final, Japan’s Aoi Uemura dominated the competition with the 15-year-old scoring nearly five points higher than second place Miyu Ito and 12 points higher than third place Pamela Rosa. Aoi used her second run to land a front blunt on the double set handrail, a backside lipslide on the A-frame and frontside feeble grind on the double set handrail, bettering her first run by 13 points. 
 

Mei Ozeki_front board - Finals Women’s Street - Rockstar Energy Open , Portland

But we also want to talk about eleven year old, Mei Ozeki, who worked her way up from the VQS and put on a great show for the crowd. At just eleven years old she held her own under pressure and should be on your radar as “one to watch!”

How to Watch
Highlights from Competition can be viewed on ThePlatfrm.com. Stay updated by visiting theplatfrm.com and rockstarenergyopen.com, and following @theplatfrm and @rockstarenergy on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and X. 

Women’s Park Podium - Yurin Fuji 3rd, Mizuho Hasegawa 1st, Ruby Trew 2nd ~ Photo Rockstar Energy Open

Mizuho Hasegawa - Photo Credit: Rockstar Energy Open

We have to say that following the Paris Olympics, the 2024 Rockstar Energy Open was a breath of fresh air. The vibes were relaxed and happy, the skaters looked comfy in their own attire, sponsors' stickers were back on their boards, and the intense pressure of the Olympics was off—making this a comp where people didn't skate each run strategically—they just went for it! It was old-school-style skating at its finest.

Watching Jordan Santana throw down that 540 in a smaller bowl and landing it like it was no problem to Yurin Fiji going for the 540 in her last two runs, not caring if she advanced - but just wanting to put on a great show for the crowd. Seeing Minna Stess come from 12th place after her second run to nailing every trick flawlessly in her last run to seize 4th. What a great comeback run!! Grace Marhoefer throwing caution to the wind and going full send on every run. And can we talk about Grace's cheering squad? WOW! Yep, it's true, "Everyone is Watching Women's Skateboarding."

What an amazing event! Congratulations to all twelve skaters for making the crowd go wild. It was some of the best core skateboarding we have seen in a while, and it just goes to show that we need contests that are not part of the Olympic Qualifying Series. Thank you Rockstar Energy!

Photo Credit: Rockstar Energy Open

Portland, Oregon (August 24, 2024) - Day Two of the Rockstar Energy Open featured the Shop Park Challenge, Shop Street Challenge, Women’s Street Semi-Final, Women’s Park Final and the Men’s Park Final in downtown Portland. Following a day of competition, Don Diablo closed out the day with an electric performance. 

In the Women’s Park Final, 13-year-old Mizuho Hasegawa out of Japan earned the first place prize ahead of 15-year-old Ruby Trew and 18-year-old Yurin Fuji. With Australia’s Trew leading into the third runs, Mizuho laced together a kickflip Indy on vert wall, frontside tailslide over hip, proper back Smith and back lip, backside varial Weddle over the hip tricks for a score that put her on top by nearly three points. Ruby and Yurin’s first run scores proved enough for second and third place. 

Ruby Trew - Photo Credit: Rockstar Energy Open

Mizuho fed off the energy of the crowd, saying “I really enjoyed the course, but the best part of this experience was the audience cheering for me!” She added, “It would mean so much to me if people were inspired to start skateboarding when they watch me and all the women's park skateboarders.”

Yurin Fuji - Photo Credit: Rockstar Energy Open

Immediately following the Women’s Park Final, Yurin Fuji added the prize for Park Best Trick - competing in a mixed male and female field. Her 540 closed out the standing room only Park Best Trick competition while Jhancarlos Gonzalez crushed the Street Best Trick competition, landing too many tricks to count. 

If you can’t be there in person here are ways to watch it all go down LIVE!

The competition will be live streamed on ThePlatfrm.com and can also be viewed globally on streaming networks including Platfrm channels, Proseiben, FuelTV and more.

Portland, Oregon (August 21, 2024) - The 2024 Rockstar Energy Open is thrilled to welcome title sponsor and strategic partner Rockstar Energy Drink®, plus 32 national, regional and non-profit event partners for the inaugural event August 23 - 25 at the historic Waterfront Park in downtown Portland. Through dynamic on-site and content integrations, partnerships ranging from national brands such as Rockstar Energy Drink to local skate shops like Tactics Portland will enhance fan and athlete experiences as well as become synonymous with skate culture. In addition, Rockstar Energy Open’s non-profit partnerships are focused on creating a lasting impact in the community of Portland. 

The Rockstar Energy Drink title sponsorship underscores the brand’s support of the skate industry, from both a pro and grassroots level. The brand has a long and storied pro skate team, which includes Keegan Palmer, Chris Joslin, Braden Hoban, Cory Juneau and more. 

As title sponsor, Rockstar Energy Drink will be integrated into course designs, custom content, on-site experiences, product sampling and event marketing. The partnership also fueled the first-ever Video Qualifier Series, giving amateur and non-contest skaters an avenue to compete at a world-class event. 

“We are excited to kick off the first-ever Rockstar Energy Open this weekend,” said Steve Mateus, director of sports marketing, Rockstar Energy. “We hope the local fans and our loyal skateboarding community are as excited as we are to bring this new, world-class event to the heart of Portland, recognizing and celebrating both professional and up-and-coming skaters in a truly fun and engaging way.”

Christian Thomas, Director of Partnerships at the Rockstar Energy Open added, “We are proud to collaborate with so many local Portland businesses and national partners who genuinely share our deep-rooted passion for skateboard culture. These meaningful partnerships are essential in staying true to the unique spirit of our community, and we look forward to building deeper connections with these valuable relationships for years to come."

Activation highlights that fans can expect include:

Title sponsor Rockstar Energy Drink will have several onsite activations including the Rockstar Cool Down Lounge featuring signature Rockstar Cocktails and Mocktails, a Rockstar Jeep to sample products and a Rockstar athlete autograph signing session scheduled for Friday from 1-2pm.

• Fred Meyer and 7-Eleven will run regional sweepstakes promoted through point of sales materials in 380 stores across the region, where participants will have an opportunity to enter and win VIP passes to the Rockstar Energy Open.

• Hyperice will keep athletes ready to skate at the Rockstar Recovery Zone powered by Hyperice and provide course-side recovery gear. 

• Nixon will design custom Rockstar Energy Open-branded trophy watches for Best Trick Jam competition winners.

• Portland Gear will feature a pop-up shop and provide custom Portland Gear bags for the Rockstar Energy Open award ceremonies.

• Tactics Portland’s pop-up shop will offer a self-serve skate deck assembly area and fan games. 

• Merge4 collaborated on a custom Rockstar Energy Open branded sock available at the Rockstar Energy Open merch booth and will also have giveaways and socks for sale at their booth

• Proximo Brands will be featured at GA and VIP area bars, including Pendleton Whiskey, Three Olives Vodka, Jose Cuervo and Kraken Gold Rum.

• 10 Barrel Brewing Co, Kona Big Wave and BeatBox products will be available at GA and VIP area bars.

Lakai, Limitless Mental Performance and Wy’East Mountain Academy will also be activating on-site, in addition to the Rockstar Energy Open Merch Booth where fans can purchase new event gear, including hats, long and short-sleeved t-shirts, hoodies, custom Rockstar Energy Open skate decks, and more.

Non-Profit Partners
 

• Stop by the Exposure Skate booth and learn about their mission to empower women, girls, trans and nonbinary individuals through skateboarding and teaching compassion through service. They will be supporting community activations at Rockstar Energy Open, including a skateboard and helmet giveaway program intended for first-time skateboarders, learners and those who may be in need. 

• Boarding 4 Breast Cancer’s Skate The River on Sunday, August 25 - B4BC will bring their  Summer Skate Series to Portland with a skate-bike-roll five miles along the Willamette River to fundraise for B4BC's education, prevention and survivorship programs. Help them get to their 20K goal by registering at the B4BC booth where they will be activating all weekend (minimum $25 donation). The more you fundraise, the more chances to win awesome prizes from their partners. 

Other non-profit partners will include Bodecker Foundation, Dream Big City, Save A Brain and Steel Bridge Skate Coalition. 

As part of the stacked weekend festivities, fans will be treated to two live musical performances by Surf Mesa on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Don Diablo on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Rockstar Energy Open is also proud to feature three local artists who will each do live art installations during the weekend on 16-ft wide x 4-ft high murals. Fans will also enjoy local fare food trucks. 

Rockstar Energy Open would also like to thank regional partners Travel Portland, Sport Oregon and the City of Portland for their partnership in bringing the event to Portland –  one of the country’s most established skateboard communities– as well as national partners California Skateparks, Scrim Junkies and Sun Bum for their support. 

Rockstar Energy Open is free and open to the public, with VIP upgrade options available for an elevated experience. The competition will be live streamed on ThePlatfrm.com and can also be viewed globally on streaming networks including Platfrm channels, Proseiben, FuelTV and more. To watch the official launch video, click here, and stay updated by visiting theplatfrm.com and rockstarenergyopen.com, and following @theplatfrm and @rockstarenergy on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and X. 

We love Cherries Wheels, not only because we love supporting female owned skate companies but because their wheels are so awesome! The Big Boys are our personal favs. We can’t believe Cherries is going on two years now - that is so cool, plus they are now sold in Zumiez, Tactics as well as other skate shops across the country- making it even easier to grab a set!

Here’s to you, and happy 2nd anniversary Cherries!

Fun Fact! Cherries is the FIRST female owned wheel company

Skaters: Nick Beaudet, John Garcia, Kira Canales, Michelle Kitchens, Joey Specht, Melissa Roetker, CAT, Carlos Truan, Marissa Martinez, Chris "Bagel" Barneby, Marcus Mobley, Song Hoff, Martin Pantoja, Jamie Sedo, Gavin Austin, Kayla Quatch, Erin Gomey, Cori, Ashley Manley.

Filmed/edited by Max Taylor.

Produced by Cattackular.

Additional filmers: Zak Molinar, Evan Johnson, Brian Pfaff, Eddie Fernandez, Dylan Wiggins, Zorah Olivia, Richard Perry.

Titles and Animation by Joseph Weiler.

Women’s Park is almost here - it’s an event that I know a lot of us have been waiting to see! We have three American skateboarders in the mix - Minna Stess, Bryce Wettstein and Ruby Lilley and we hear there are some tricks that they have been waiting for this moment to throw down!

Keep an eye on Arisa Trew, Cocona Hiraki and Sky Brown - these three could potentialy be battling it out for a spot on the podium.

Anything can happen at the Olympics so this one will be fun to watch.

Tuesday, Aug. 6

• Women’s park prelims, Tuesday 3:30 a.m. PT/ 6:30 a.m. ET

• Women’s park final, Tuesday, 8:30 a.m. PT/ 11:30 a.m. ET

Watch on Channels: NBC, USA Network

Don’t have cable? No problem! You can watch the women skate online on Peacock and any live TV streaming service that carries NBC and USA Network, including DirecTV Stream, Fubo, Hulu + Live TV and Sling.

Women’s Street Prelims:

TREW Arisa

TREW Ruby

PACHECO Isadora

VARELLA Dora

VENTURA Raicca

EBERT Fay

SIRVIO Heili

ALEXANDRE Emilie

TABOULET Nana

STOEPHASIUS Lilly

BROWN Sky

TAMBLING Lola

HIRAKI Cocona

KUSAKI Hinano

YOSOZUMI Sakura

ASAQAS Aya

ZHENG Haohao

BENEDETTI Julia

LASO Naia

LILLEY Ruby

STESS Minna

WETTSTEIN Bryce

Diagram of the Skateboard Street Course

Opposite view of the Street Course

Twenty Two women will compete in Women’s Street Skateboarding at the Paris Olympics - and only eight will make it through to the finals. As we saw in Tokyo four years ago - it’s anyone’s game, so stay tuned to watch the action LIVE! We are keeping a close eye on Australia’s Chloe Covell, Brazil’s Rayssa Leal and USA’s Paige Heyn.

Sunday, July 28, 2024

Women’s Street Prelims - 3 AM PST / 6 AM ET

Women’s Street Finals - 8 AM PST / 11 AM ET

Watch on Channels: NBC, USA Network

Don’t have cable? No problem! You can watch the women skate online on Peacock and any live TV streaming service that carries NBC and USA Network, including DirecTV Stream, Fubo, Hulu + Live TV and Sling.

Women’s Street Prelims:

COVELL Chloe

LOVELACE Liv

ZENG Wenhui

AWUAH Boipelo

CUI Chenxi

MUNOZ Natalia

ZWETSLOOT Roos

TEROL Daniela

ROSA Pamela

MAZETTO Gabi

ZHU Yuanling

YOSHIZAWA Coco

LEAL Rayssa

HEYN Paige

POWELL Haylie

OLDENBEUVING Keet

SCHOONHEERE Lucie

AKAMA Liz

PINSON Poe

SUKASEM Vareeraya

NAKAYAMA Funa

DURAN Mariah

Watch team rider Anna Shea, skateboard in the new Samsung commercial featuring ‘Open Always Wins’ by ‪@TXT_bighit‬. We love seeing Anna shine throughout this rad spot!

Congrats Anna!

USA Women’s Street - Mariah Duran, Poe Pinson, Paige Heyn Photo Hayden Sahli

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO – Following the last stop of the Olympic Qualifier Series in Budapest, Hungary, last week, Team USA athletes for skateboard park and street filled all 12 allotted roster spots to comprise the 2024 U.S. Olympic Skateboard Team. Skaters on the team range in ages from 16-29. 

Each of the four events—men’s park, women’s park, men’s street, and women’s street—will feature 22 athletes at the Olympic Games Paris 2024, for a total of 88 skateboarding athletes overall. For qualifying, the points are allocated into three parts: one-third of each athlete’s points are allocated from prior World Skate competitions from June 2022 - March 2024 - one-third from the Olympic Qualifying Series (OQS) stop in Shanghai, China, and one-third from the OQS stop in Budapest.

"This group of talented skaters has been through a journey on this quad and worked so hard through all the changes and challenges,” said Whitney Carter, director, internally managed sports, at the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee. “I’m just really proud of this team, and supporting them through this process has been an honor.”

USA Women’s Park - Minna Stess, Bryce Wettstein, Ruby Lilley Photo Hayden Sahli

The team is comprised of the following athletes: 

Men’s Park                                            Women’s Park 

Gavin Bottger (Vista, CA)                    Bryce Wettstein (Encinitas, CA)

Tate Carew (San Diego, CA)               Minna Stess (Petaluma, CA)

Tom Schaar (Malibu, CA)                    Ruby Lilley (Oceanside, CA)

Men’s Street                                          Women’s Street

Jagger Eaton (Mesa, AZ)                     Poe Pinson (Fernandina Beach, FL)

Nyjah Huston (Davis, CA)                    Paige Heyn (Tempe, AZ)

Chris Joslin (Hawaiian Gardens, CA)  Mariah Duran (Albuquerque, NM)
 

Skateboarding debuted at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, which were held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The U.S. brought home its first Olympic skateboarding medals when Jagger Eaton and Cory Juneau earned bronze medals in street and park, respectively. In addition to Eaton, Nyjah Huston, Bryce Wettstein, and Mariah Duran will return for their second Olympic Games.

In Paris, park skaters will have three runs of 45 seconds each. Winning runs usually feature between five to eight tricks. Runs are judged on five criteria: difficulty and variety of tricks performed, quality of execution, use of the course, flow and consistency, and repetition. The score of the highest run counts. The top eight athletes qualify for the final, which will follow the same format. 

For street in the qualifying rounds, skaters will have two runs of 45 seconds each. Winning runs usually feature six to seven tricks. The final round consists of the trick portion. Athletes are allotted five trick attempts for two scores. One run score (100 points maximum) and two trick scores (each worth 100 points) will make up a total score of up to 300 to determine the winner. The top eight athletes qualify for the final, which will follow the same format. 

Olympic skateboarding coverage will be live-streamed on Peacock, NBC, CNBC and USA Network. Visit NBC Olympics for the full schedule. 
 

Men’s Street Prelims and Final - July 27

Women’s Street Prelims and Final - July 28

Women’s Park Prelims and Final - August 6

Men’s Park Prelims and Final - August 7 
 

Photo Mark Nicdao for Vogue Philippines

Team rider Mazel Alegado is featured in Vogue Philippines this month and she is sporting GUCCI no less!

Check out the entire article HERE

Yeah Mazel!!!

We are so stoked to share that team rider Leiola Kahaku is featured in the San Francisco Bay Area, Mercury Newspaper. Leiola has made the USA National team for slalom and will be competing in Rome at the World Skate Games. How rad is that?

Read the entire article on MERCURY NEWS HERE

Congrats Leiola!!

Girl is NOT a 4 Letter Word team rider, Mayzie Feher is literally on a roll with her part in the newly launched Sun Bum ad campaign, “Outside is In”. Watch this fun video to see how Mayzie not only skateboards but does stunts as well!

Asahi Kaihara - Photo Lauren Brooke

If you missed watching Women’s Skateboard Vert and Women’s Skateboard Park at the X Games Ventura, we hope these awesome photos from photographer Lauren Brooke will show you just how rad the ladies were this year! The skating was off the charts!

Oh yeah, and HERstory was made!!

Did you know that Arisa Trew took home TWO more GOLD medals? One in Women’s Skateboard Park and another in Women’s Skateboard Vert. That’s back to back wins two years in a row for this talented skater!

Check this out! Girl is NOT a 4 Letter Word Team rider Mia Kretzer is now the youngest X Games invite AND youngest medalist in X Games history- WOW! Mia took home the GOLD in Women’s Skateboard Vert Best Trick at just 9 years and 8 months old!

Women’s skateboarding is on FIRE!!!

Arisa Trew - Photo Lauren Brooke

Bryce Wettstein - Photo Lauren Brooke

Minna Stess - Photo Lauren Brooke

Cocona Hiraki - Photo Lauren Brooke

Grace Marhoefer - Photo Lauren Brooke

Jada Ward - Photo Lauren Brooke

Hinano Kusaki - Photo Lauren Brooke

Cocona and Yurin

Jordyn Barratt

Lilly Stoephasius

Lizzie Armanto

Minna and Raicca

Ruby Lilley

Yurin Fujii - Photo Lauren Brooke

Mia Kretzer - Photo Lauren Brooke

Lilly Erickson - Photo Lauren Brooke

Juno Matsuoka - Photo Lauren Brooke

Raicca Ventura

Mizuho Hasegwa - Photo Lauren Brooke

Ruby Trew - Photo Lauren Brooke

Image of Arisa Trew by Chris Tedesco X Games

Watch the women skate live at X Games Ventura via YouTube or Twitch!

Fri., June 28 EVENT SCHEDULE

Women’s Skateboard Park Elimination: 10am PT |  1pm ET

Women’s Skateboard Street Elimination: 11:15am PT |  2:15pm ET

Sat., June 29 EVENT SCHEDULE

Monster Energy Women’s Skateboard Street: 10:15am PT | 1:15pm ET

Monster Energy Women’s Skateboard Street Best Trick: 3:15pm PT | 6:15pm ET

Pacifico Women’s Skateboard Vert Best Trick: 4pm PT | 7pm ET

Sun., June 30 EVENT SCHEDULE

SONIC Women’s Skateboard Park: 10:15am PT | 1:15pm ET

Women’s Skateboard Vert: 1:15pm PT | 4:15pm ET

Photo Lauren Brooke

What a weekend! I think everyone was watching women’s skateboarding and the last QS in Budapest to find out which 22 women made the finals in women’s park skateboarding. I know that we were glued to our couch watching qualifiers, semi-finals, and finals! There were a lot of “holding your breath” moments throughout. With six Americans vying for just three spots (no alternates!), it was a showdown.

Photo Lauren Brooke

At the end of the weekend, it came down to Minna Stess, along with Bryce Wettstein and Ruby Lilley, who punched that Olympic ticket for Paris! Congratulations to these women as they move forward in representing the USA in Women’s Park Skateboarding!

Big congrats Minna - we are so stoked for you!!

Photo Lauren Brooke

All photos by Ian Logan x Girl is NOT a 4 Letter Word

When we heard that AU team rider Mia Kretzer was flying into LAX to skate at Tony Hawk’s Vert Alert (special invite!) we knew we had to get some of the girls together to meetup with Mia right after she landed.

What a day Mazel, Brooke and Quinne had - finally meeting up with their AU skate sister after years of connecting via Instagram - it was like they were already best friends immediately.

It was a fun morning of skateboarding at the iconic Venice Skatepark, breakfast on the boardwalk and giving the girls packages from the Palace Gap collection - which they loved!

Mia went on to Utah and killed it at Vert Alert - at just 9 years old Mia earned a spot at X Games Ventura this coming weekend in Women’s Vert - so stay tuned and cheer her on!

Huge thanks to Gap for supporting Girl is NOT a 4 Letter Word with a grant and for flowing or team riders apparel from the Palace Gap collection!

This was a Women’s Skateboard Park final like no other! This final event in the Olympic Qualifying Series, decided who would represent their country at the Paris 2024 Olympics, so there was a lot on the line. We are not going to give away the podium results for the finals, as you really need to watch it all go down!

Unapologetically herself. This is Lizzie Armanto. From the Cove in Santa Monica to the pages of Vogue, Lizzie continues to be one of the most influential and inspirational female skaters in the world. Mixing style and elegance - there's no one out here doing it like she is. We're really witnesses of the greatness that is Lizzie.

Image via World Skate SB Instagram

Get ready because this is the last QS for skateboarding before the Olympic Team is named! This contest decides who makes the cut and who sadly, does not. There is a lot riding on this last event - so you don’t want to miss it!

Make sure you watch the battle between park skater, Arisa Trew from AU and the Japanese skaters - Arisa won the last QS, will she win this one too? Rumor is that Sky Brown will be back from her injury and competing again - it’s been quite awhile since we have seen her at a qualifier. How will she hold up now that Arisa has the 900?

The USA women’s park skaters will be battling it out for the top three spots to go to Paris.

Right now the standings for USA Women’s Park look like this:

1. Bryce Wettstein

2. Minna Stess

3. Ruby Lilley

4. Grace Marhoefer

5. Jordyn Barratt

6. Lilly Erickson

HOW TO WATCH LIVE!!

You can watch all the action from OQS in Shanghai live on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com and the official Olympics app for mobile devices.

The times are displayed in Pacific Time

Thursday 20 June

• 2:40 AM PT - Skateboarding - Women's Park - Prelims

Friday June 21

• 7:25 AM PT Skateboarding - Women’s Street Prelims

Saturday 22 June

• 12:15 AM PT - Skateboarding - Women's Park - Semi-final

• 7:55 AM PT - Skateboarding - Women’s Street Semi Final

Sunday 23 June

• 1:30 AM PT- Skateboarding - Women's Park - Finals

• 8:00 AM PT- Skateboarding - Women’s Street Final

Sky Brown is back and this time her new Nike SB show is dropping. You don’t have to wait long as it drops in select skate shops and Nike.com this Friday, June 14.

Read more about Sky and this new shoe HERE

Filmed and Edited by Ty Evans

Red’s barn, Washington Street and Mammoth have all leveled their fair share of seasoned pros, but Ruby handles the heaviest terrain with absolute authority. Mami and Lizzie bring the backup in this stunning show.