The world’s most prestigious skateboarding competition will return to London this May as the countdown to the sports’ historic debut at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics continues.
The ‘World Skate/SLS World Tour London’ event will again be held at The Copper Box Arena, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on 25-26 May, following the success of 2018’s inaugural competition. Tickets for the event at the iconic venue went on sale today (Wednesday).
This year’s format ensures a minimum of 3 British men and women will compete and two of the UK’s top male and female skaters Alex Decunha and Helena Long were at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park to launch this year’s event, which will count towards qualification for Tokyo 2020. Among those expected to compete at the event, which takes place across the bank holiday weekend, are last year’s winners Yuto Horigome and Jenn Soto.
Fans will get the chance to see some of the world’s best skaters battle it out for pride and prizes in a custom-built concrete skate plaza, designed to inspire innovative tricks and take skateboarding to new heights. The competition features an exciting easy-to-follow format, anchored by instant scoring, resulting in down to the last trick ‘buzzer-beater’ moments that appeal to both die-hard fans and new spectators alike.
As well as showcasing the world’s best street skaters, the event will again highlight the capital’s rich street skating scene, celebrating the creativity, physicality, and sense of community that lies at its core.London is home to a historic urban skate culture with the Southbank the oldest continuously skated spot in the world.
Speaking at today’s launch GB skateboarder and Londoner Helena Long said:
“It is an amazing feeling to have the SLS World Tour back in my home city. To have the world’s best skaters here will be incredible for fans and I’ll be aiming to compete especially with Olympic qualification at stake.London has always had a strong and vibrant skate scene and this event will inspire even more Londoners to take it up.”
SLS Chief Executive, CJ Olivares added:
“We’re excited and honored to return to London after the success of last year. Once again we will be bringing the most talented skaters in the world to the Copper Box and with Olympic qualification at stake, the competition will be even more fierce. With some amazing talent and skills on show, this will be a spectacular event not just for skateboarding fans but for those who have never experienced a live skateboarding event before.”
Qualifying for the competition will take place on Friday 24thMay with tickets available for two days of competition on Saturday May 25thand Sunday May 26th. The men’s and the women’s finals will take place on Sunday with semi-finals taking place the previous day.
For more information and to buy tickets visit www.seetickets.co.uk