Rayssa Leal (L), silver medallist at the Tokyo 2022 Olympics, and others compete during the Street 2022 World Skateboarding Championships at Aljada Skate Park in Sharjah.

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

The quarter-finals of the Street 2022 World Skateboarding Championships at Aljada Skate Park in Sharjah on Friday saw big tricks and a dramatic day of action.

In the men’s Street event, the following skateboarders qualified for Saturday’s semi-final: Jagger Eaton (USA); Kelvin Hoefler (Brazil); Aurelien Giraud (France); Ginwoo Onodera (Japan); Kairi Matsumoto (Japan); Ryan Decenzo (Canada); Alexander Midler (USA); Sora Shirai (Japan); Joseph Garbaccio (France); Richard Tury (Slovakia); Chris Joslin (USA); Angelo Caro (Peru); Gustavo Ribeiro (Portugal); Toa Sasaki (Japan); Giovanni Vianna (Brazil); Jhancarlos Gonzalez Ortiz (Colombia).

The competition in the women’s street event was just as close, with the following skateboarders qualifying for Saturday’s semi-final: Heat 1: Daniela Terol (Spain); Rayssa Leal (Brazil); Haylie Powell (Australia); Nonoka Nakajima (Japan); Momiji Nishiya (Japan); Aoi Uemura (Japan), Gabriela Mazetto (Brazil); Mariah Duran (USA). Heat 2: Liv Lovelace (Australia); Funa Nakayama (Japan); Pamela Rosa (Brazil); Paige Heyn (USA); Yumeka Oda (Japan); Chloe Covell (Australia); Rizu Akama (Japan); Roos Zwetsloot (Netherlands).

Chloe Covell, 12, the youngest competitor in the field, said: “I feel good after that, I got a pretty big score and it’s definitely given me more confidence leading into the finals. I think what got me the score was me doing switch tricks – standing the opposite way to do a trick – which gets you more points. I hope the semifinal will go well and I think everything will go to plan if I just do what I can do and not overthink it too much.”

The Street 2022 World Skateboarding Championships’ grand finale for both men and women at Aljada Skate Park is on Sunday.

The Park 2022 World Skateboarding Championships begin that day as well, with the Sharjah hub hosting the tournament’s quarter-finals on Feb.10, semifinals on Feb.11, and the final on Feb.12.

Both competitions act as qualifiers for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris – with all 12 Olympic medallists from the 2020 Games competing in the star-studded Sharjah line up.

A record-breaking total of more than 450 of the world’s best skateboarders are starring at the Street 2022 and Park 2022 World Championships for an incredible prize pool of $500,000. Gold-medal winners in each discipline, in both the male and female categories, receive a $50,000 prize.

The women’s Street semifinal on Saturday begins with the practice session at 10.30am, followed by the competition at 2.25pm. Men’s practice begins at 12.10pm, with the competition starting at 5.55pm.

The Street 2022 and Park 2022 World Championships is co-organized by World Skate and UAE-based master developer Arada.

The event is sponsored by Red Bull, TikTok, Sharjah Tourism, Saudi German Hospitals, UAE Innovates, Aman Insurance and Reinsurance, Bones, Rage, Mini Logo, Embassy Skateboards, and Etnies.