Sharjah: The best skateboarders on the planet will be heading to the UAE in early 2023 for the two qualifying events for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics to be held at the Aljada Skate Park in Sharjah.
Held back-to-back, the two Road to Paris events consist of the Street 2022 World Championships, which will take place from January 29 to February 5, followed by the Park 2022 World Championships from February 5-12. Both events are being co-organised by World Skate and UAE-based master developer Arada and will help to cement Sharjah’s position as a new regional hub for this rapidly expanding sport.
Ranking points
It is the first time that a competitive pro-skating event at this level has ever been held in the Middle East and the two World Championships join a list of prominent sporting tournaments and events that have come to the UAE in recent years. Athletes wishing to compete in the next Olympics must earn ranking points to qualify by taking part in a limited number of events, which makes the Sharjah competitions a vital stop on the road to Paris 2024.
Around 300 professional skateboarders from all over the world will compete across both events at the recently completed Aljada Skate Park, the biggest facility of its type in the region.
The most famous male and female skaters in the park discipline include Australia’s Keegan Palmer, Brazil’s Pedro Barros, the United States’ Cory Juneau, Japan’s Sakura Yosuzumi and Kokona Hiraki and the UK’s Sky Brown. Invited street specialists include Jagger Eaton from the US, Brazil’s Kelvin Hoefler, Japan’s Momiji Nishya, Funa Nakayama and Yuto Horigome, and Rayssa Leal from Brazil.
Sporting history of Sharjah
Prince Khaled Bin Alwaleed Bin Talal, Vice-Chairman of Arada, said: “These events mark another piece of sporting history for Sharjah, and will once again showcase the UAE as a hub for world-class competitive sport. Skateboarding is one of the fastest-growing sports globally and having built the best skate park in the region, we’re very excited at the opportunity to see the world’s best skaters to put it through its paces.”
Sabatino Aracu, President of World Skate, said: “As a truly global sport, we’re delighted to bring skating events of this stature to the Middle East for the first time, and in particular to see Sharjah play such an important role on the road to Paris 2024. The popularity of skating has really taken off in the region in recent years, and these two World Championship qualifiers offer skaters the chance to enjoy an impressive new skate park, while allowing local fans the opportunity to see the world’s top professionals up close.”
Aljada Skate Park is located in the Aljada urban district, Sharjah’s largest ever project, which is being developed by Arada. Spread over a 90,000 square foot area, the Aljada Skate Park complex currently consists of six separate parks, ranging from a California Skateparks-designed world-class, Olympic-level street course and park construction complete with two deep ends (3.3m in height), all the way down to smaller bowls, street sections, snake runs and beginner-level spaces.
