World Skate and STU have confirmed that São Paulo will host the Skateboarding World Championships from March 1 to 8 at Cândido Portinari Park. The event is set to bring together around 400 athletes and will mark a milestone by staging, for the first time in the city, both Olympic disciplines — Street and Park — alongside a dedicated Adaptive Skateboarding competition, combining elite performance and inclusion within a single official competitive programme.
The significance of the event extends beyond the calendar. In addition to its historic character, the World Championships will have a direct impact on the international men’s and women’s rankings used by World Skate to monitor global performance at the start of the road to Los Angeles 2028. For Brazil, the event represents a return to the forefront as a host of major international competitions after several years without a championship of this scale, while reinforcing its position within the Olympic skateboarding structure.
São Paulo at the heart of Olympic skateboarding
Brazil remains one of the most influential countries in the recent history of skateboarding and one of the leading producers of Olympic champions since the sport joined the Olympic programme. The return of an official World Championship after seven years places the country back at the centre of the international calendar and further establishes São Paulo as a reference venue for top-level events.
Sabatino Aracu, President of World Skate, underlined that the championship “recognises Brazil’s fundamental role in shaping the global evolution of skateboarding” and highlighted that the city will host “the most prestigious gathering on the calendar, bringing together the world’s best athletes across both Olympic disciplines.” Aracu also directly linked the event to the strategy towards 2028 and to the objective of once again staging Olympic qualification events in Brazil.
A key event on the road to Los Angeles 2028
From a sporting perspective, the results of the São Paulo World Championships will directly influence the international rankings managed by World Skate. The competition fits into the continuity of the World Skateboarding Tour, following five years of events held in the United Arab Emirates, Switzerland, Argentina, Italy and Japan, and serves as the first major benchmark of the new competitive cycle.
For Diogo Castelão, founder of STU, the simultaneous staging of Street and Park, together with the launch of an international Adaptive Skateboarding competition, represents “a defining moment for Brazilian skateboarding.” Castelão stressed that the partnership with World Skate opens “a very powerful cycle towards Los Angeles 2028,” supported by accumulated experience in international events and by skateboarding’s growing status as one of the world’s leading forms of sporting entertainment.
Continental growth across the global structure
The inclusion of Adaptive Skateboarding is part of a broader institutional process. At its most recent Executive Board meeting in December, World Skate confirmed that the formal statutory recognition of adaptive sport will be included on the agenda of the next Congress, further embedding this discipline within the federation’s official framework.
At the same meeting, continental reports highlighted sustained global growth. In the Americas, high participation levels were recorded in continental championships, with a strategic focus on youth and junior categories and on the development of skateboarding, roller freestyle and scootering ahead of the Pan American Games 2027. Europe completed a season featuring 29 continental competitions, including the first-ever European Scootering Championship, while Asia announced the launch of the Asian Skateboarding Championships alongside a strong focus on the Nagoya 2026 Asian Games. In Africa, the ongoing continental reorganisation includes the debut of Skateboarding Street at the Youth Olympic Games Dakar 2026, and in Oceania, investment has continued in youth programmes and the consolidation of educational and development events.
Digital expansion and brand consolidation
Sporting growth has been matched by a significant expansion in the digital sphere. A communication report presented to the Executive Board revealed a 3150% increase in digital engagement between 2022 and 2025. Key developments include the consolidation of a unified World Skate brand identity, the expansion of World Skate TV as a platform for international competitions, and the launch of a complete redesign of the federation’s institutional website.
Against this backdrop, the Skateboarding World Championships in São Paulo stand out as a central piece of an expanding global calendar that will continue in 2026 with the World Skate Games in Asunción, scheduled from October 2 to 18. The Brazilian event combines immediate sporting impact, Olympic projection and an institutional strategy backed by concrete growth data, positioning World Skate at a moment of strong global consolidation.
