Who’s In the Lead to Go to The Olypmics?

As you may have seen on our YouTube channel and on the Braille blog, the Olympics are coming up fast. So, we should probably figure out the Olympic Teams. Well, we are right in the middle of the Olympics qualifying season. This qualifying season goes from 1 January 2019 till 31 May 2020. So, we’ve been in the middle of it for awhile now. Today, we’re looking at where we stand now in the overall qualifying standings for the US Olympics Skateboarding Teams.

For this blog post, we’re just going to be looking at skaters from the United States. That means we’re not looking at the other countries like Brazil, Sweden or Japan. We’re doing it this way because the system is somewhat bizarre in it’s in own right. Each country can have 3 skaters per event, per gender. So 3 for men’s street, 3 for men’s park, 3 for women’s street and 3 for women’s park.

As long as they are in the top three in their country, they will be going to the Olympics. That’s why the other countries don’t really matter for what we’re looking at right now.

Top 10 USA Skaters: Men’s Street Section

Let’s start off with the Men’s Street Section. You’ll see some very familiar names on this list. Why? Well because these are the Olympics, and every skater has been dreaming of this moment for their whole life. Being apart of one of the Olympic Team really is an honor!

1. Nyjah Huston: 145900 points
2. Jake Ilardi: 42640 points
3. Maurio McCoy: 39900 points
4. Dashawn Jordan: 37480 points
5. Jamie Foy: 34570 points
6. Jagger Eaton: 18220 points
7. Louie Lopez: 9530 points
8. Alex Midler: 9220 points
9. Sean Malto: 3200 points
10. Chris Joslin: 2987 points

As the qualifying events continue, this list will be sure to change. Some things that might not change, however, are the top runners. We have Nyjah Huston in first place overall. He’s been on the US National Team and has been preparing in a big way for the Olympics. It’s almost guaranteed we’re going to see him in the Olympics.

The question is, will he stay in first place overall? Yuto Horigome from Japan has been giving him a run for his money. Horigome is closing the gap with each win and each new event. So, Nyjah might currently be in first place overall, but we’ll see if it stays that way.

Top 10 USA Skaters: Men’s Park Section

Here are the current rankings for The Men’s Park Section.

1. Heimana Reynolds: 121320 points
2. Cory Juneau: 88700 points
3. Tom Schaar: 50050 points
4. Jagger Eaton: 47500 points
5. Alex Sorgente: 39110 points
6. Ben Hatchell: 23410 points
7. Tate Carew: 22530 points
8. Liam Pace: 10320 points
9. Tristan Rennie: 9990 points
10. Gavin Bottger: 9260 points

So, as you can see, this list has a large range in terms of rankings and points. And in case you were wondering, Gavin Bottger’s current global ranking is 21st place. That just gives you some frame of mind of where everybody is at on an international scale.

With that being said, the men’s park contest is pretty close at the higher ranking levels. Heimana Reynolds, currently in first place, only has a 32,000 point lead. He only recently took over first place. He jumped to the front of the pack with some of his recent wins.

These rankings are all likely to change. These leaderboards are constantly changing with each new qualifying event there is. But, that’s what makes it so exciting! Nobody can feel safe, and each skater needs to perform their absolute best in order to represent their country at the Olympics. No pressure.

Top 10 USA Skaters: Women’s Street Standings

Now, we’re onto the women’s side of things. Here are the current standings for the women’s street event.

1. Mariah Duran: 46670 points
2. Alexis Sablone: 35730 points
3. Alana Smith: 23530 points
4. Lacey Baker: 7207 points
5. Samarria Brevard: 6630 points
6. Meagan Guy: 3130 points
7. Kendra Long: 3100 points
8. Jenn Soto: 2990 points
9. Paige Heyn: 1197 points
10. Kiana Parra: 805 points

This section is also interesting to look at. Do you see a difference between the Men’s Street and the Women’s Street rankings? The ranges of points are very different. That’s because in both of the Men’s events, the 1st place global rankings were both from USA. In the Women’s, the 1st place global spot goes to Pamela Rose (Brazil) with 180,000 points. As we said before, the standings are constantly evolving and it’s still anyone’s game!

Top 10 USA Skaters: Women’s Park Section

For the final event, let’s take a look at the Women’s Park event.

1. Bryce Wettstein: 27810 points
2. Brighton Zeuner: 21980 points
3. Jordyn Barratt: 12840 points
4. Jordan Santana: 11620 points
5. Arianna Carmona: 10020 points
6. Minna Stess: 9500 points
7. Alana Smith: 3750 points
8. Nicole Hause: 1910 points
9. Hunter Long: 801 points
10. Bella Kenworthy: 767 points

This particular event has a wide range of rankings from different countries. The top 10 global rankings are made up of 6 different countries, including Australia, Finland and Japan. The top two global spots are both held by Japan, with Misugu Okamoto in 1st place and Sakura Yosozumi in 2nd place. Out of all the various Olympic events, this is one to keep an eye on. I’m sure we’ll see several amazing comebacks in the upcoming months.

So, those are the current standings for the US Olympic Teams. If you’re not following along with these qualifying events, we suggest you start! These are a lot of fun to watch and you get to see all of the future Olympians.

A lot will change between now and the Olympics in July 2020. The qualifying season ends in May of 2020, so you’ll be seeing some major changes in those leaderboards.

Upcoming Qualifying Events

The next qualifying event will be the Southeast Asian Games. These will be held in the Phillipines from December 3rd to December 8th, 2019. Who knows, we might have a completely different leaderboard after that event! Maybe some of these gaps will close. It’s unlikely that Nyjah will be bumped out of first place, but a lot could change in the other events. I guess we’ll have to stay tuned.

Keep in mind that from the time of this article, there’s only a little more than 7 months until The Olympics. So, while nothing is set in stone just yet, some things will need to be. I have no doubt that the next qualifying events we’ll see some really amazing things from these skaters. Either way, the US Olympic Teams are going to have to skate hard to compete with the others across the globe.

In Conclusion

I hope this gives you some more information on where the Olympic Teams currently stand. I suggest following along with these skaters and their journey, as they’re only going up from here! If you want to see the full list of ranks, you can check those out here at the WorldSkate website.

As you look forward to The Olympics, take this time to progress yourself! Check out Skateboarding Made Simple. It’s the most detailed lesson plan for skateboarding that exists. With 9 different volumes, you’ll go from learning how to ride on a board, to skating skateparks and landing more advanced flatground tricks in no time! Who knows, maybe you’ll be competing in the Olympics or X Games in the near future.