UPDATE (3:45 a.m. ET on Saturday, July 27) -- Men's skateboard street, originally scheduled for Saturday, July 27, has been postponed due to slick course conditions and rain. The event will now be held on Monday, July 29. The women's skateboard street events remain scheduled for their original times on Sunday, July 28, with prelims at 6 a.m. ET (NBCOlympics.com, Peacock) and the final at 11 a.m. ET (NBCOlympics.com, Peacock).
Skateboarders will soon be dropping in on the courses at Place de la Concorde, an octagonal plaza with statues representing one of France’s major cities in each corner. The temporary venue holds courses for the two skateboarding disciplines: street and park.
Both courses were created over the last two years by California Skateparks, the company behind many designs found at World Skate competitions and private parks owned by American skateboarders Tony Hawk and Nyjah Huston. The courses represent a progression from the builds the athletes have ridden on in the past year, including the ones at the Olympic Qualifier Series event in Budapest last month. Keep reading to see what features await the athletes.
Street course
In street, skaters have two 45-second runs and a series of five separate single-trick attempts. Athletes are scored based on overall impression, difficulty, execution, and trick variety.
The course is about a third larger than typical arena-style skateparks, and there are 18 different features that the skaters can flip and slide off of.
![Skateboard street course](https://images.nbcolympics.com/sites/default/files/2024-07/ParisSkateboardStreetCourse1.png?impolicy=rect_large_1920_1080)
![Skateboard street course](https://images.nbcolympics.com/sites/default/files/2024-07/ParisSkateboardStreetCourse2.png?impolicy=rect_large_1920_1080)
Five of the features have Parisian names, including the BERCY Hubbas, a ledge that leads down a 10-step stairway and may be a nod to Parc de Bercy, a city park that housed a recently closed skatepark.
![BERCY Hubbas feature on the skateboard street course](https://images.nbcolympics.com/sites/default/files/2024-07/ParisStreetCourseBercy.png?impolicy=rect_large_1920_1080)
Park course
In park, skaters have three 45-second runs to attempt a series of tricks. Like in street, athletes are scored based on trick variety and difficulty in addition to speed, flow, and trick height.
There are 16 different features to launch off of as part of this year's Olympic course..
![Skateboard park course](https://images.nbcolympics.com/sites/default/files/2024-07/ParisSkateboardParkCourse1.png?impolicy=rect_large_1920_1080)
![Skateboard park course](https://images.nbcolympics.com/sites/default/files/2024-07/ParisSkateboardParkCourse2.png?impolicy=rect_large_1920_1080)
Similar to the street course, the park course also has areas with names inspired by Paris. The Deep End, also known as The Catacombs, may reference the underground passages beneath the city.
![The Catacombs feature on the skateboard park course](https://images.nbcolympics.com/sites/default/files/2024-07/ParisSkateboardParkCatacombs.png?impolicy=rect_large_1920_1080)
'Fair and equal'
The courses were designed to be “fair and equal” for all skateboarders because there will be a breadth of ability among the athletes who qualify from different countries.
“If you make [features] too hard and too risky, then it’s not fair to the people who don’t have the skill set for that — but you can’t tone it down enough that it hurts the guys who want the bigger risk,” Joe Ciaglia, head designer at California Skateparks, said to World Skate. This is an improvement from the courses at the Tokyo Games in 2021, which featured large 12-stair rails.
Huston noticed these changes during practice this week.
“[The Paris course] is put together a lot better. There were a couple of obstacles on the Tokyo course that were unnecessarily big and made the flow of the runs a little hard to figure out,” he said. “[This] course is feeling great.”
Street skateboarder Roos Zwetsloot, who's competing for the Netherlands, hasn't yet dared the CONCORDE section, which features 10-stair round rails, but was pleased with the variety of features.
"It's a good course...There's something for everyone," she said.
American street skateboarder Jagger Eaton agrees.
"I think the course adapts well to skaters who skate with a lot of speed and aren't afraid to go fast," he said. "And I'm not afraid to go fast."
When to watch
See what tricks the skaters throw down when the first skateboarding competitions at the Paris Olympics begin on Saturday, July 27.
The men’s street preliminary round starts at 6 a.m. ET (NBCOlympics.com, Peacock), and the final will follow at 11 a.m. ET (NBCOlympics.com, Peacock). The women's contest will take place one day later.
For skateboard park, the women will compete on the course first. The preliminary round begins at 3:30 a.m. ET on Tuesday, August 6 (NBCOlympics.com, Peacock) with the final set for 8:30 a.m. ET (NBCOlympics.com, Peacock) the same day. The men's event takes place on the following day.