WDSC SETS OUT PLANS TO RESTRUCTURE

LONDON, 8 August 2023: The World Downhill Skateboarding Championship has set out plans to restructure the sport following the well-documented local organisational failings that resulted in the opening round of this year’s championship being abandoned and the season suspended until further notice.

A wide range of topics were put on the table by championship promoter Race Marketing & Management (RMM), the World Gravity Sports Federation (WGSF) and flagged-up to senior riders, with the emphasis on establishing manageable rider numbers, streamlining events, rider safety and event management and locations.

“Avoiding a repeat of what happened [in Italy] is paramount to ensure a successful championship, that we continue to attract the best riders in the world and have their full confidence. To do that we must move forward and restructure,” said Selim Kemahli, RMM managing director. “The riders are our biggest asset and holding top-flight events in commercially viable, exciting, and suitable locations is essential.

“It became clear that at some events the huge interest and rider turnout was putting the event infrastructure and management under pressure, and when it comes to rider safety there can be no compromise.

“We want to remain inclusive but to manage that we need to establish a core rider base of 60 selected on previous year’s WDSC results/standings and or associated organisation(s) with a structure that offers new talented young riders the opportunity to come through, so we will introduce a qualifying series at selected venues and reserve a certain number of places in each category for non-invited riders.

“Whilst race day will remain the same, we will introduce a revised qualifying format, Q1, Q2 and Q3 and will determine the final numbers on an event-by-event basis in terms of how many riders drop out in Q1 and Q2.

“From a commercial and logistics perspective, we will be very selective regarding venues and local organisers and will be looking to make the sport more accessible to the public by taking the sport to more urban locations.”

RMM will announce news regarding the season in the coming days.