Leather, speed and switchbacks: World Downhill Skateboarding Championship thrills Park City

The men's stand up skateboarding podium at the World Downhill Skateboarding Championships held at the Utah Olympic Park, September 28, 2025. Photo: Michele Roepke // TownLift

PARK CITY, Utah – In the world of extreme sports there are those that one might consider mainstream, and there are those that remain out on the wild fringe. Downhill skateboarding is one of the sports among that category. It’s untamed and raucous subculture made a stop here in Park City this weekend as a few hundred of the world’s best downhillers competed in the World Downhill Skateboarding Championship at the Utah Olympic Park.

Downhill skateboarding was born from a blend of surf culture, engineering curiosity, and daredevil spirit. The idea of hurtling down steep roads at full speed came a decade or two after the sport was born — with pioneers seeking pure velocity on gravity alone. Since then, a passionate breed of hill-bombing adrenaline junkies has refined equipment and technique, charging down long stretches of pavement like the upper portion of the UOP with minimal gear and maximum courage.

Racers, clad in colorful, customized leather racing suits, skate shoes and full-faced, aerodynamic helmets spent the first day of the competition getting to know the track, which stretched just over a mile long. The course’s big switchbacks were where most of the action took place as racers experimented finding the right line and right amount of speed to carry into the sweeping turns.

“It’s really about figuring out when and where to brake,” one seasoned spectator said.

Since the skateboards actually have no brakes, riders ditch speed by sliding their boards sideways across the pavement in what might be one of the coolest maneuvers across all sports. Similar to what alpine ski racers call a “stivot” turn, a brief high-speed, sideways slide allows the skier to ditch just the right amount of speed and place themselves in just the right position mid-turn to carry speed down the course.

Sports history for the UOP

The weekend action was the first-ever stop in Utah for the World Downhill Skateboarding Championship Tour.

Local competitor Micah Green, who grew up skateboarding in Utah and works as a dispatcher at Park City and his friend Riley Irvine, who works with the Olympic Park, helped fight to bring the world event here.

“We thought the Olympic Park would never agree to a skateboarding event,” Green told KUTV. “But they think it’s cool, and we couldn’t be more excited.”

Green made it through the qualification rounds and finished in 30th place overall. He now sits ranked 52 in the world standings.

In a wet and wild final of the men’s open skate Harry Clark of Australia edged world number one Adrien Paynel for the win and USA’s Nick Broms took third place. American Andy Lally took the win in street luge finals and on the women’s side Rose Hill of Canada won the luge competition and Selina Theiler of Switzerland beat USA’a Ashley Winecoff in the standup race.