Emerging and current skateboarding stars shine at Inaugural Skate Australia Pathways Competitions

Medalists at the Park competition held at Redbank Plains, Brisbane.

57 of Australia’s most promising up and coming and current competitive skateboarders took on Skate Australia’s inaugural Pathways Competitions last month in the men’s and women’s Street and Park disciplines. 

Set in Brisbane and the Gold Coast, the competitions provided athletes from across Australia with the experience of competing under World Skate rules and processes with the aim to bridge the gap to International World Skate level competition.

World Class Judging panels were on hand at each competition including World Skate Head Judge (Park), Renton Millar and Olympic Judges Aimee Massie (Street) and Shari Duffy (Park). 

Skate Australia Contest Pathways Lead Kat Williams said the two events had received incredibly positive feedback from competitors and families and provided key learnings for Skate Australia to support more initiatives such as these in the future.

"In 2025, while these contests are not official national championships, they are an important step towards continuing to build a Skateboarding Domestic Contest Series.   Lessons from these Pathways contests, will help Skate Australia (and its partners) inform the approach for years to come.”

These events provided great opportunity for developing athletes to come through and learn what the World Skate contest environment is like, while competing with athletes who have World Skate competition experience. They combined fun, learning and developing with the opportunity to experience how international competitions can be judged and run. There are so many things these athletes can take out of these events, it’s not all about winning.”

The crowd gathers for results at the Street competition held at Pizzey Park, Gold Coast.

15-year-old Bohdi Smith from South Australia attended the Street Contest on the Gold Coast taking home the silver medal and many great memories.

“The competition was professional, and it was run on my favourite park. It was so fun to catch up with other athletes from all over Australia and challenge myself with coaches there to give advice.”

“I would love Skate Australia to hold an event in South Australia. I would love to perform in front of a hometown crowd, with friends and family cheering on.” 

Fellow competitor 15-year-old Indigo Dale from Western Australia said the competition highlight was meeting new skate friends and seeing others in action.

“The most fun part of the event was the practice days before the comp, because everyone was trying out different tricks and trying to get all their runs on lock before the comp day. I think it’d be awesome to have an event like this in WA. We've got the parks for it and a big comp like this could also help make the judging better at other skateboarding events in WA.”

Williams said the events were not only for competitors to gain experience but also for parents of the younger athletes to have an open forum to obtain information, ask questions and learn more about high performance. 

A junior competitor goes airborne during the Park competition at Redbank Plains, Brisbane.

“We had our system partners at the contests (QAS, Australian Sports Commission, AIS etc) providing parents the opportunity to learn more about what the journey from pathways through to high performance program involves and what their children need to know and how they can be supported moving forward."

As part of Skate Australia's strategic plans towards LA28 and Brisbane 2032, the contests will help to develop the selection approach for future World Skate events.