Olympic Skateboarding skateparks – Street vs Park disciplines

You may be watching the skateboarding in the Olympics and be wondering what is the difference between ‘Street’ and ‘Park’ disciplines. We’re going to try and answer that question for you.

Skateboarding ‘Street’

Whilst this event is called Street, the event doesn’t really take place in the street. Instead a ‘Street’ style skatepark is designed and built for the event. I guess this is because it would be quite impractical to take the skaters out to real street spots to run the contest.

The design of the skatepark includes street furniture like:

• Stair sets
• Handrails
• Flat banks
• Ledges/hubbas
• Driveways

Another way of describing this style of park, is a Plaza, because it replicates street furniture found in town centre plazas which skaters found were great for hitting up.

The typical street park style does typically include more traditionally ‘park’ style quarter-pipes (or transitions) at each end of the skatepark to make turning around easier.

Skateboarding ‘Park’

The park style skatepark design is a typical bowl type design. The bowl is a design style that evolved out of the skating of swimming pools in the 1970s. This design style developed using longer radiuses, which make it easier to skate than traditional pools, which had very tight transitions. Special metal coping is now used at the top of the bowl to make grind tricks more practical.

The design of the ‘Park’ style skateparks often have a nod to the street style, with a ledge or flat bank incorporated in the bowl orientated design.

In summary

Flat surfaces and obstacles are more typically deployed in Street style parks, versus curved (or transition) in Park style skateparks.

See more about about the design of the Olympics skateparks.