Notwithstanding all the excitement and colour of the Olympics, and the fact that the pre-seeded skaters have to wait until mid-week to get started- it is nice to return to the World Skateboarding Tour programme and welcoming everyone back, alongside an influx of new faces on top.

All photos: Kenji Haruta

It is natural enough that we should see some changes- people get hurt, some are understandably still on hiatus from their entire Olympic journey, and some were awaiting their chance to jump in on a new contest cycle.

One constant feature which is attractive at any stage in the game is the shared $250,000 prize purse. Not only is that a spicy meatball in this day and age, but isn’t it nice to see a contest series which is upfront about what’s on the table?

Staying with the numbers for a second: 192 entrants from 48 nations (124 men and 68 women), four years out from the next Olympic Games- which rather gives the lie to the suggestion that our community only have that event in mind.

The World Skateboarding Rankings remain the sole international measurement by which each skateboarder’s progress is quantified by their National Federations, and with World Championships carrying more point weighting than Pro Tour events, the incentive to deliver big here in Rome is huge- even leaving aside that quarter-of-a-million dollars lying on the table.

Among the heavy-hitting new faces joining the WST here in Rome is the fantastic Tyson Bowerbank, who has been super-impressive in practice so far.

One last statistic for you here: 360 degrees- that’s how far he span out of that backside smithgrind up there. Whipped it round. If that’s what is going down in practice then the World Skate Games- WST Street World Championship- Rome 2024 is going to be wild this weekend, best believe.

Join us on Eurovision Sport, World Skate TV or the Olympic Channel to see it all go down live!