Dew Tour Long Beach 2019 Serves as First Global Olympic Qualifying Event In the U.S

This year’s summer Dew Tour competition and festival to be held June 13-16 in Long Beach, Calif. will serve as the first official global Olympic qualifying event in the U.S. for men’s and women’s skateboarding park and street competitions in 2019 and the final qualifying event in 2020. Skateboarding will be part of the Olympic Games for the first time in Tokyo in 2020, and has also been proposed as an additional sport in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
More than 300 of the world’s top male and female skateboarders will compete in individual Park and Street events for a chance to win the Dew Tour title, while earning valuable points toward their country’s Olympic skateboarding team. Expected to compete at this year’s event include USA Skateboarding national team members Nyjah Huston, Jagger Eaton, Tristan Rennie, Mariah Duran, Lacey Baker, Jordyn Barratt, as well as international skaters Oskar Rozenberg (SWE), Kelvin Hoefler (BRA), Pamela Rosa (BRA), Yuto Horigome (JPN), Leticia Bufoni (BRA) and Ryan Decenzo (CAN).
“This year is arguably the most exciting and interesting year in skateboarding and Olympic history,” said MTN DEW skater and USA Skateboarding national team member Mariah Duran. “From making the first-ever USA Skateboarding national team to joining the Mountain Dew team as the first female skater, it continues to be a groundbreaking year. I can’t wait to skate and see how it all unfolds at the first-ever global Olympic qualifier at Dew Tour in Long Beach.”
The Olympic qualification system will be based on World Skateboarding Rankings maintained by World Skate, the sport’s International Governing Body. Skateboarders will earn points by competing in World Skate sanctioned events during the Olympic qualifying period beginning January 1, 2019 and ending May 31, 2020. Dew Tour, as part of the World Skate sanctioned Five-Star Street and Park skateboarding series, will serve as the first qualifying event in the U.S. in 2019 and the last qualifying event in the U.S. in 2020. Dew Tour is no stranger to Olympic qualifying events, having served as an Olympic qualifier for U.S. freeskiing and snowboarding in 2014 and 2018.
World Skate President, Sabatino Aracu said: “Our main goal has always been to guarantee the true soul of skateboarding and the top skateboarders in the world to be represented at the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020: we see the cooperation with Dew Tour as one more step towards the fulfillment of the best event possible in the Games.”
“This is truly a historic time for skateboarding as we embark on the first-ever Olympics, and to have Dew Tour leading the qualifying charge is an honor,” said Adam Cozens, VP and General Manager of Dew Tour. “With our background in staging world-class events that celebrate the progression and culture of skateboarding, as well as our history in hosting other Olympic qualifying events, our goal is to showcase the absolute best in men’s and women’s street and park skateboarding as we kick-off the road to Tokyo.”
This year’s Dew Tour also includes the Dew Tour Experience, a vibrant interactive sponsor village and Dew Tour on the Green, a festival of outdoor music, local food and drink vendors and lifestyle activations, including a public skate park. Various events incorporating the Long Beach community will also be featured throughout the weekend through local nonprofit partners. Dew Tour is free and open to the public.
A total of six hours of Dew Tour coverage will air on NBC and NBCSN. The event will also be livestreamed in its entirety on DewTour.com, Facebook Live, YouTube and other major platforms for a total of 25 hours LIVE.
Stay tuned at DewTour.com and on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube @DewTour, as well as WorldSkate.org and on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @WorldskateSB and @WorldSkateOfficial.