The elite of Brazilian skateboarders gathers this week in Rio de Janeiro for the STU Open, an event that starts this Wednesday (1st) and runs until Sunday (5) at Duó Square, Barra da Tijuca.
SporTV and TikTok air the finals on Sunday. The schedule’s closed times have not yet been released.
The park and street competitions —Olympic modalities— are organized by the Skate Total Urbe platform, a brand created in 2017 by the company Rio de Negócios. In the years of preparation for the sport’s debut at the Olympics, she established herself as the country’s top skater tournament organizer.
Since then, STU has consolidated a national calendar in partnership with the Brazilian Skate Confederation and has seen its championships gain weight in the race for places in Tokyo. It also invested in more than 20 tracks across the country, including construction, renovations and improvements, at a value that, according to the company, has already exceeded R$ 5 million.
Now, the platform is once again hosting the main event in its portfolio at a special moment for the sport, after the boom driven by the Olympic Games, and with the presence of the public in Rio de Janeiro.
“I always imagined this would happen [aumento do interesse], because skateboarding is very passionate. But I imagined a big wave and it turned into a tsunami, a national skate fever, with people discovering the real values of the sport”, says Diogo Castelão, creator of the STU.
Because of the limitations imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, entry into the competition environment will only be allowed with tickets, which were withdrawn last week. Only spectators can enter and circulate through the space with up-to-date vaccinations.
Tokyo medalists Rayssa Leal (silver in the street) and Pedro Barros (silver in the park) and the two-time world street champion Pamela Rosa are confirmed at the Open. Other Olympic representatives at the park, such as Yndiara Asp, Dora Varella, Pedro Quintas and Luiz Francisco, in addition to the current world street runner-up Lucas Rabelo, will also represent the country at the event, which will have international participants.
“It’s going to have a lot of professional, amateur and outsider girls. I’m really excited to participate,” says Yndiara. “I saw that the tickets are sold out, so I imagine it will be a big party for skateboarding. Being able to connect in person, seeing the crowd live after having competed in the Olympics will be very special. Now let’s have the taste we couldn’t have there .”
Park and street athletes did not coexist in Japan because the competitions were separated by a week. In Rio, in addition to joint tournaments for the two disciplines, the event will feature art, fashion, concerts and food stalls.
“I always thought of Praça Duó as a small Disneyland in the world of street and skateboarding”, says Castelão. “We’re going to have to close the square in order to control access, but we’re talking about this year’s Open as the great celebration of skateboarding, the time to party along with making the scene happen.”
Paralyzed since the beginning of the pandemic, the STU once again organized a stage in December 2020, in São Paulo. It was exclusive to the street and with the presence only of the competitors. In January of this year, still under public restrictions, Criciúma (SC) hosted an event of both modalities and which counted points in the Olympic race.
The national calendar was resumed in the second half, after the Tokyo Games, with news. One of them is the STU On Tour, a hybrid tournament (online and in person) that selected 16 finalists from unpublished maneuvers videos published on Instagram. There were more than 800 entries in the two modalities, and those selected after two stages of classification will dispute the title in person this Wednesday. There will be broadcast by TikTok.
In recent months, STU has also held mini ramp tournaments, a modality in which it bets on a more democratic and accessible aspect, even without being Olympic.
The platform also announced this semester the master sponsorship of the BV bank, which since 2018 has already worked in partnership in the renovation of lanes. Open naming rights continue with the telephone company Oi.
“We have the whole world paddling to the same place. A country that is a source of skateboarders, together with an organized calendar and a long-standing partnership with the confederation, in addition to strong social work”, says Castelão. “If you look back at where we were five years ago and where we are today, it’s relevant in a very short time.”
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