If ever you required proof of the theory that World Skate-sanctioned events created new opportunities for people to shine outside of the World Skateboarding Tour, look no further than Street Skateboarding’s debut at Dakar’s Youth Olympic Games.
Twenty-four young skateboarders- and their coaches- had the opportunity to experience the real- time strategising and drama which comes with the blending of Run and Best Trick competition elements which only become a factor on the WST from semifinals onwards.
Step forward Switzerland’s Simon Gerber in that regard, who had never made it beyond quarterfinals stage on the WST but backed up his brand-new ‘Quick One’ video part with a super-smooth bronze medal performance here in Senegal.
Ever since the rider lists were announced it seemed like the top spots in Men’s would be a battle between Netherlands’ Tijmen Overbeek and USA’s Julian Agliardi- and so it proved.
Tijmen was as powerful and sketch-proof as we have come to expect in this last year, with Kickflip Backside Lipslides absolutely on lock, and ran Julian closer than anyone- but could not tame his Kickflip Front Blunt final trick and claimed silver.
Julian, however, led from the opening salvos and looked every part the machine which he has threatened to be since making his USA debut on the WST in Rome at the start of the summer. With victory already in the bag courtesy of the most ridiculously perfect Kickflip Backside Tailslide on a handrail you will ever see, his last Best Trick attempt was just for the crowd’s entertainment- and despite not landing it, he headed into the stands to be greeted by his tearful Dad.
Amidst all that excitement we should also take a moment to congratulate Soweto’s styler Molemo Losaba who impressed mightily on his first international stage. Backside Kickflip over the Dakar logo was a choice cut!
Staying with people who didn’t make the podium in Senegal but nonetheless stood out we have to mention Puerto Rico’s Esmeralda Butler who at only 13 is already a powerhouse, and Czech Republic’s Laura Zackova who relished competing in a smaller field as demonstrated by her Heelflip over the Dakar logo like it was no big thing (it was).
Canada’s Evie Pritchard, who only made her international debut at WST Kitakyushu in Japan at the tail end of 2025, continues to make the case for being her nation’s best Olympic medal hope in skateboarding come LA28 by securing a confidence-boosting bronze here.
Brazil’s Duda Ribeiro likewise grasped her chance to shine and was leading, albeit by the slimmest of margins, as the Best Trick section headed into its final phase.
She had no response, however, for the ever-improving Chinese teenager Yuanling Zhu who was able to release her pioneering Switch Nosegrind just when it mattered- and secured Youth Olympic gold for herself in a result which will have done her nation’s competitive skateboarding project no harm at all.
Perhaps as importantly as the individual medals was the marker put down for skateboarding in Africa, with a brand-new international-standard skatepark and a skateboarding populace who have now witnessed the excitement, drama and possibilities of the world’s most exciting activity play out on their continent at this level for the first time.
We are excited for what happens next, there!
Youth Olympic Games Dakar 2026: Street Skateboarding Results
- Julian Agliardi
- Tijmen Overbeek
- Simon Gerber
- Yuanling Zhu
- Duda Ribeiro
- Evie Pritchard