Dew Tour practice sessions are officially underway this week at the brand-new Lauridsen Skatepark in Des Moines, officially the largest skatepark in the United States at 88,000 square feet and already under heavy attack from an international contingent of several hundred of the world’s top skaters.
“This bowl is insane, it’s my first time to Des Moines, and it’s pretty sick: this park is absolutely epic,” says Curren Caples, one of the standouts from Men’s Park practice on Monday. “I’m stoked to be back competing.”
The stoke is high for the first major international skateboarding competition since 2019, and the stakes are even higher: as a World Skate Pro Tour event, Dew Tour is one of the only remaining opportunities for Street skaters vying for top-3 spots on their national teams to compete in skateboarding’s debut at the Tokyo Olympics in July and August, and it’s the last chance for Park skaters to earn points.
“It’s so good to see everyone and have some normal times again: it’s been needed,” says Jordyn Barratt, currently the #3-ranked Park skater for USA Skateboarding. “The stakes are crazy high because it’s the last Olympic qualifier for Park. Right now I’m in a little bit of a battle with four or five other people to make the Olympic team, so it’s pretty stressful but it keeps it exciting and it’s been fun.”
Other standouts from Women’s Park practice on Sunday and Monday included Ruby Trew, Yndiara Asp, and Jordan Santana, the only woman throwing 540s in the early practice sessions.
With 60,000 World Skate ranking points going to this week’s winner, get ready to see some of the biggest names in skateboarding, including some legends like Paul Rodriguez who have been out of the competition mix for a while. P-Rod is in a Heat 5 Men’s Street group stacked with the likes of Chris Joslin, Sean Malto, Tommy Fynn, Mark Suciu, and Micky Papa. Other standouts from Men’s Street practice included big names like Ryan Decenzo, Matt Berger, Shane O’Neill, and Felipe Gustavo, but watch for some surprises in the results on Thursday and Friday: a lot of new faces in the field have come a long way in the two years since we last saw major contests happening.
The pressure to earn those Olympic qualification points is particularly intense for skaters like Samarria Brevard, who comes into this week as the #4-ranked Women’s Street skater currently vying for the USA Skateboarding squad’s top-3 cut. Brevard says she’s so thrilled just to have the pandemic pause behind her that she’s been trying not to fixate on the stats.
“You can’t let that stuff get to you: I’m just excited to finally be back skating with all my friends,” Brevard said before practice on Monday. As a pre-seeded skater based on 2019 rankings, she’ll get to skip the Open Qualifier and head straight to the Semi-Final. “It’s one thing at a time. My only goal right now is to have fun.”
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