Lacey Baker, Nyjah Huston Lead First USA Skateboarding National Team
Lacey Baker, Nyjah Huston, Brighton Zeuner and Tom Schaar are among the skateboarders named to the first U.S. national skateboarding team.
The men’s and women’s teams feature eight skateboarders each, with four competing in the street discipline and four competing in park. The national team announcement comes as USA Skateboarding prepares for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which will be the first to feature competitive skateboarding.
Olympic qualification will take part over the next year and riders will be able to qualify based on their best three results in World Skate sanctioned events during the 2019 season (which runs through September 15th) and their six best results during the 2020 season (September 16th through May 31st, 2020). The Skateboarders that land top three podium spots at the 2020 World Championships will also earn automatic qualification for their event. While any skateboarder can qualify for the Olympics on their own merit, the US national team will receive support and resources from USA Skateboarding.
The inaugural USA Skateboarding team boasts a slew of highly accomplished riders, such as Baker, who won first place in street at the 2014 X Games and finished first at Street League Skateboarding’s Super World Crown Championship in 2016. In a 2017 interview with Rolling Stone, Baker spoke about how skateboarding’s inclusion at the Olympics will further fuel the success of women in the sport.
“In the Olympics it’s equal – for every sport there’s men’s and women’s [division] – so now that skateboarding is going in that direction, people are starting to see value in women’s skateboarding,” she said.
Other stand-outs include Huston, who’s long dominated street skateboarding competitions, and Schaar, who was the first skater to land a 1080. The U.S. national team also features 14-year-old Brighton Zeuner, who is the youngest gold medalist in X Games history, winning the Women’s Park competition in 2017 and 2018.
U.S. National Skateboarding Team
Women’s Park
Brighton Zeuner
Bryce Wettstein
Jordyn Barratt
Nicole Hause
Women’s Street
Alexis Sablone
Jenn Soto
Lacey Baker
Mariah Duran
Men’s Park
Alex Sorgente
Tom Schaar
Tristan Rennie
Zion Wright
Men’s Street
Chris Joslin
Jagger Eaton
Louie Lopez
Nyah Huston