Jacksonville — The 2022 Street League Skateboarding Championship kicks off in Jacksonville’s VyStar Arena, July, 15-17. The SLS 2-day weekend events - with a Friday night practice showing - will then travel from Jacksonville, to Seattle, Las Vegas and ultimately Rio de Janeiro.
Last November, Jacksonville hosted the SLS Super Crown World Championship to a sold out crowd. This year, the yellow brick road to the Championship begins at the VyStar Memorial Arena. As with every stop on the pro tour, the custom-designed skate plazas will challenge every contestant while thrilling millions of fans worldwide.
Joe Carr, CEO of Thrill One Sports and Entertainment, the parent company of SLS, describes the event as paving the way for street skateboarding’s rise while creating a generation of fans.
“Building on last year’s successful relaunch, we’re excited for the tour to return to packed indoor arenas, " he said. “We look forward to taking the SLS brand global with the Super Crown World Championship and heading back to a skate-obsessed Brazil. Some of SLS’ biggest moments have happened here and the League can’t wait to make history again in Rio.”
Greg Terlizzi of Thrill One Sports & Entertainment says that Jacksonville is the perfect place to launch the 2022 season.
“We had two sold out dates last year, which indicates the excitement for the event,” he said. “That’s why we are re-routing 2022 to Jacksonville to kick things off.”
Terlizzi described Jacksonville as a strong audience for such elite competition particularly after SLS’s Olympic debut. He said that the new course is both challenging and expansive.
“This course encourages more creativity,” he continued. “Previously skaters would focus on going in straight lines. This offers a more expansive course that gives skaters a variety of options to take in terms of lines. The skaters reactions were exciting when it was first revealed.”
Fifty of the sport’s best skaters and “biggest personalities” will vie to pursue the 2022 SLS Super Crown title including defending champions Jagger Eaton (USA) and Pamela Rosa (BRA); SLS icons Nyjah Huston (USA) and Rayssa Leal (BRA); Tokyo Olympic Games gold medalists Yuto Horigome (JPN) and Momiji Nishiya (JPN).
In the Men’s field, four-time SLS Championship title winner Nyjah Huston (Huntington Beach, Calif.) will be joined by Olympic Medalists Kelvin Hoefler (São Paulo, Brazil) and Yuto Horigome (Tokyo, Japan), and Florida’s own Jamie Foy (Deerfield Beach).
Since its inception in 2010, the SLS Championships have “propelled street skateboarding from a collection of independent standalone events to a renowned global series.”
These pioneers of street skateboarding offer a premium qualification system and competition format, offering the world’s premier professional street skateboarding competition amateur-to-professional pathway while offering global entertainment and creates thrilling live events across the globe.
Practice begins on Friday, July 15; Preliminaries running on Saturday, July 16 and Finals on Sunday, July 17.
Dates and places that piggy-back the Jacksonville opener include Seattle on August 13-14; then Las Vegas’s UFC Apex October 8-9 before culminating with the Super Crown World Championship in Rio de Janeiro November 5-6.
VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena
300 A Phillip Randolph Blvd, Jacksonville, FL
SHOC Energy Schedule:
Friday, July 15: 12 p.m. – 3 p.m. /Women’s Practice ; 3 p.m. – 7 p.m. /Men’s Practice
Saturday, July 16: 8:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. /Men’s Practice; 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. / Women’s Practice. Doors open at 11:00 a.m.
12 p.m. – 2 p.m. // Women’s Prelim
2 p.m. – 3:20 p.m. // Men’s Practice
3:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. // Men’s Prelims
Sunday, July 17: 8:30 a.m – 10 a.m. // Men’s Practice; 10 – 11:30 a.m. // Women’s Practice. Doors Open at 10:30 a.m.
11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. // Women’s Final
1 p.m. – 1:45 p.m. // Men’s Practice
2p.m. – 3:30 p.m. // Men’s Final
For more Street League Skateboarding news, including the Championship Tour updates, broadcast information, and more, go to www.streetleague.com and follow Street League Skateboarding on Instagram and Facebook.
SLS Championship Tour: Jacksonville, presented by A SHOC Energy: Saturday, July 16 – Sunday, July 17 (VyStar Memorial Arena)
SLS Championship Tour: Seattle, presented by Visible: Saturday, August 13 – Sunday, August 14 (Angel of the Winds Arena)
SLS Championship Tour: Las Vegas: Saturday, October 8 – Sunday, October 9 (UFC Apex)
SLS Super Crown Championship: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Saturday, November 5 – Sunday, November 6 (Arena Carioca 1)
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