Discover the highlights of Brazil’s biggest skateboarding competition in Rio this Thursday

— Very happy to be in Rio again — Raissa declared this Wednesday at a press conference: — My first STU was here in 2017, which was also an open stage and a lot of people came from abroad. It’s always good to be with all your friends and family. My expectations are always the best possible. STU always brings us the best. Rio is my favorite place for these events, filled with contagious energy. I want to get my moves right and bring something different.

With the championship open to foreign players, Skye Brown will prove in Rio why she is a reference point among teenagers in the Park Division. A world champion at age 14, the now 16-year-old teenager has also won two Olympic bronze medals and an X Games title.

— As Rayssa said, Rio is also my favorite place for skateboarding events. It’s not just competition. It’s the energy of the crowd, it’s a beautiful place to meet, it’s the friends you see all the time – said an American friend of a Brazilian athlete.

Another international highlight of the championship is Cordano Russell, a Canadian who is favored by Brazilians for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Although he did not reach the podium, he won the love of the public with his jokes and charisma.

— I love this circuit and its competition format — he praised the athletes who made their STU debut on the stage in Porto Alegre this year and are competing in Rio for the first time.

Understand the difference between roads and parks

Street mode is a space with a smooth floor surrounded by small ramps, with stairs, handrails, and obstacles. Its purpose is to remember the streets that skateboarders used as tracks. In it, athletes must use the environment’s resources in creative ways and manipulate them with great care while maintaining balance. This category involves 24 male athletes and has two qualifying stages: semi-finals and finals. The women’s side will have 16 skaters competing in the competition, but there will be one fewer skater in the early stages and fewer heats.

Another flagship of the sport is already located in a completely different place from the streets. Park competitions take place in bowls that resemble empty swimming pools and are intended to mimic a skate park. In this category, athletes perform daring maneuvers on the edges of locations and ramps, and “fly” over the track. The park will enroll 16 women and 24 men and will maintain a switching format for other modalities.

Raissa Leal, “The Athlete to Beat”

Due to her success on the streets, Raissa Real has become the young face of Brazilian skateboarding. Fadinha, 17, has two world titles, three Super Crown titles and two Olympic medals (one silver and one bronze). This year at STU, he won the Porto Alegre stage. The Rio favorite will make her competition debut this Friday.

— Everyone comes to the track with one purpose: to win. Obviously, we’re in it because we want to have fun and show what we know. But everyone is there thinking about getting to the finals, getting on the podium and finishing first. I am no different. I do my best and always do my best. But I don’t think of myself as an athlete to beat, and I don’t think girls are going to get in there and try to kill me on the course (laughs). Like everyone else, I always work with my coach to strategize for the best results, explains Raissa.

Brazilian success at the park continues across generations

The Brazilian highlights at the park will be 24-year-old Augusto Akio and 30-year-old Pedro Barros, who start competing this Thursday. Akio began his professional career in 2019 and started attracting attention after winning a silver medal at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago. The following year, he won a bronze medal at the Paris 2024 Games. This successful trajectory was made possible because the path had already been paved by veterans like Barros, who has been active since the 2000s. The Santa Catarina native became a phenomenon when he won his first X Games title at the age of 14. He is an eight-time world champion and won a silver medal at the 2024 Paris Games.

— Here at STU, it’s a park rink that’s a little more democratic than the Olympics. Because it was not built just for the world’s best skateboarding — compared to Akio: — in fact, it is a public rink, and many children, young people, adults, and even the elderly and people with disabilities come here to practice. Many people are not training for competitions, they are not preparing to win titles, but they are here to take advantage of the space and practice their sport for love, for leisure, for fun.

The Rio event will also feature a mini-ramp competition called the Mini Ramp Pro Attack, which is smaller than other competitions. This Thursday will see the semi-finals and finals of the men’s division and the final stage of the women’s division.

After Heat, the controversy gives way to the Arb Music Tour. Papatinho, Braza and Stefani are some of the confirmed attractions. The Pro Tour offers free tickets to the show and you must collect your tickets on the website listed on STU’s social networks.

The competition is free to enter only during the initial phase, which will be held between Thursday and Friday. You must arrive by 3pm to guarantee free admission on Friday, and tickets start at R$20 for those arriving later. For the semi-finals and finals, STU has started selling tickets ranging from R$80 to R$396.

View the complete schedule for Pro Tour STU Rio de Janeiro

Street and Park Eliminator and Mini Ramp Pro Attack Finals | Thursday | November 13th

• 11am – Open to the public
• Phase 1 Men’s Street
• Phase 1 Men’s Park
• Men’s Mini Ramp Pro Attack Semifinals
• Women’s Final Mini Ramp Pro Attack
• Men’s Final Mini Ramp Pro Attack
• View | Arb

Eliminator | Friday | November 14th

• 12:30pm – Open to the public
• 1st Women’s Park
• 1st period ladies street
• Phase 2 Streetmen
• 2nd period men’s park
• View | Arb

Semi-finals | Saturday | November 15th

• 10am – Open to the public
• Women’s Park Semi-Final
• Men’s street semi-final
• Women’s street semi-final
• Men’s Park Semi-Final
• Best Trick Heineken 0.0 (Street)
• Show | Arb
• DJ Tamenpi
• Stephanie invites MV Bill & Nega Gizza
• Brother

Finals | Sunday | November 16th