World’s Best Skaters Hit Sydney
The Street League Skateboarding is on at Sydney Olympic Park this weekend, featuring Olympic medallists and an Aussie hometown hero.
The world’s top Street Skateboarders are in the Harbour City this weekend for the second edition of the Sydney edition of SLS.
Headlined by Australian star Chloe Covell, who won this event last year, plus World Champion Rayssa Leal and Paris Olympic gold medallist Coco Yoshizawa, a total of eight of the world’s top ten are included in the field for the second last stop of the Street League Skateboarding schedule before December’s Super Crown World Championship in Brazil.
The course in 2024 is different to the one the skaters conquered last year, and much of Friday morning’s practise session was spent by skaters working out its intricacies with some trial and error.
American top ten skater Paige Heyn, who won silver at the SLS Apex event in September, was diplomatic when HER WAY asked what she thought of the Sydney course:
“The course is a little interesting, but I think it’s going to be a fun weekend. It was fun last year, the crowd was great, so I’m excited.”
Meanwhile fellow American Poe Pinson was full of praise for the Sydney layout:
“It’s just a really fun park to skate, honestly. It’s kind of hard to piece together a line, but it just kind of happens naturally because it’s that fun to skate.”
Brazilian World Champion and defending SLS Super Crown Champion Rayssa Leal, also has fond memories of last year’s event. Rayssa is close friends with local star Chloe Covell, and she is enjoying being back in her friend’s homeland:
“I’m here in Chloe’s home, so it’s going to be so fun again to compete here, to be with everyone here again.”
Leal finished runner up to Chloe last year, but the 2023 male event was won by her fellow Brazilian Felipe Gustavo. Joyful and emotional scenes followed that win, as Rayssa and the Brazilians in the crowd all celebrated a big day for their country. The amount of Brazilian flags in the crowd that day was noticeable, and Rayssa told HER WAY the crowds are supportive wherever she goes:
“It was really good to compete here. Every place feels like home, not only here and in Brazil, but every place.”
It’s been a huge 2024 for the Street Skaters, with four SLS events before Sydney, two X Games events, the Paris Olympics and World Championships. For some, just getting through to the end of the year unscathed is a major achievement, given how much these athletes literally throw themselves into what they do. And while she was part of the US Olympics team in Paris and had a podium finish at SLS Alex earlier in the year, Poe Pinson told HER WAY her health was her best accomplishment:
“A good anything for me is if I’m in tact and not super injured. Luckily so far this year I’ve only had some minor stuff, but hopefully…knock on wood… that prevails.”
The SLS will see two knockout groups compete on Saturday, with the top six from there advancing to Sunday’s final.
Defending SLS Sydney champion Chloe Covell, who is coming off an X Games gold medal in Japan recently, doesn’t take these rare opportunities to compete in her home country for granted. Chloe is based near the NSW/QLD border, but has her people travelling from as far as the Queensland Sunshine Coast to watch her in action on a global stage:
“I’ve got heaps of family and friends, like my Nan, pop and cousins - they’ll all be coming down, which is cool.”
Some tickets are still available via Ticketmaster.