Seven Australian Skateboarders are in Lausanne, Switzerland this week to compete at the next Street World Skateboarding Pro Tour from 12 to 16 September.
The street skateboarders will be vying for their chance to improve their international rankings in order to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The team is headlined by Tokyo 2020 Olympian Shane O’Neill. He will be joined by one of Australia’s most experienced skaters and World Skate Athletes Commission Representative Tommy Fynn. The experienced duo will see five of Australia’s best up-and-coming skaters Haylie Powell, Felicity Turner, Olivia Lovelace, Daniel Woolley and Rome Collyer compete as their teammates.
Street skaters Chloe Covell and Dani Campbell were also named to the team, but have not traveled to Switzerland to compete this time.
Seventeen-year-old Collyer, who placed 20th at his last World Tour event in Sharjah, said he is looking forward to representing Australia on the world stage once again.
“It's exciting to have been selected to head overseas again for the Street Pro Tour. It's always sick to represent your country and where you're from overseas at such a high level,” he said.
“My preparation for the event has not been exactly what I was hoping it to be. I've been recovering from shin splints for the past two months but I'm happy to be able to be on the board and skating now though.
“I am hoping to make it to the quarter-finals of this competition, to maintain my ranking and hopefully make it through to phase 2 of qualification.”
Skate Australia High Performance Manager Debbie Savage said the Australian team are ready for the important competition and to perform well at the highest level.
“This is a strongly prepared Australian Street Skateboarding Team competing at the upcoming fourth Olympic Qualification Event in Switzerland,” she said.
“With this event then leading into the World Championships later this year in December in Japan, we are focused on retaining Australia’s solid Street presence across both female and male skaters.
“Understanding this is the fourth out of six Olympic Qualification Events in Phase 1 of the series, Australia is mindful of each skater's individual competition strategy, and ensuring considered decision making is in order to align to meet demands across the entire Phase 1 and 2 schedule.
“With this competition being amongst a festival environment, it will certainly feed into the urban feels for Street Skateboarding and bring out the best in the Australians”.
2023 Lausanne World Skateboarding Street Pro Tour begins with three days of official practice sessions on September 9. Women’s open qualification starts on Tuesday 12th September, with men’s qualifiers on Wednesday. Quarterfinals get underway on Thursday, before the Olympic Channel live stream starts for semi-finals on Friday and finals on Saturday.
Find out more on the Olympics website HERE.
Australian Team for 2023 Lausanne World Skateboarding Street Pro Tour
Haylie Powell
Felicity Turner
Olivia Lovelace
Shane O’Neill
Daniel Woolley
Rome Collyer
Tommy Fynn