This week Street League Skateboarding (SLS) and the International Skateboarding Federation (ISF) announced a strategic partnership as the SLS endorses ISF recognition by the International Olympic Committee as the official skateboarding federation. This has now been followed today with the line up of athletes that will be participating in the Youth Olympics this weekend in Nanjing, China.
Paul-Luc Ronchetti is the only British skater involved in what is a landmark event for World Skateboarding. Who would have thought that skateboarding looks to be finding its way into becoming an Olympic sport? Some will argue that it’s a farce resulting from the intrusion of sports brands infiltrating skateboarding, others who follow the Street League events will just be handed an extension to watching more perfect skateboarding with score cards. Whatever your view is, here are the featured athletes chosen for the showcase event that runs from August 17th-27th:
Street:
Leticia Bufoni (F – Brazil)
Candy Jacobs (F – Netherlands)
Kelvin Hoefler (M – Brazil)
Tomas Vintr (M – Czech Republic)
Sean Malto (M – USA)
Chris Cole (M – USA)
Vert:
Lizzie Armanto (F – USA)
Karen Jonz (F – Brazil)
Renton Millar (M – Australia)
Marcelo Bastos (M – Brazil)
Paul-Luc Ronchetti (M – UK)
Delegates:
ISF President: Gary Ream
ISF Event Delegate: Don Bostick
ISF Athlete Delegate: Neal Hendrix
ISF Representative: Johan Andersson
ISF Announcer: Ryan Clements (street)
ISFAnnouncer: Vernon Laird (vert)