Pro street skateboarder Margielyn Didal qualifies for Tokyo 2020 Olympics
The 22-year-old is the country’s 10th athlete who has qualified for Tokyo 2020 Olympics, which will be held starting next month.
Margielyn Didal recently competed at the Street Skateboarding World Championships-Olympics Qualification event in Rome, Italy, where she placed 17th overall in the competition.
With this performance, she placed 13th in the world rankings, where she outdid her previous record with one notch.
The pro street skateboarder wasn’t able to make it to the competition’s finals but her world ranking was enough to earn her a spot in the upcoming Olympics.
“Our very own Margielyn Didal has earned a slot for the Tokyo Olympics,” Skate Pilipinas, the Skateboarding Association of the Philippines, announced on its social media accounts the news over the weekend.
According to the association, the official announcement will be released by after the World Championships Finals in Rome.
Skateboarding will make its debut in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, which was plagued by postponement since its original staging last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, the Olympics is set to be held from July 23 to Aug. 8.
Didal, who hails from Cebu City, posted on Instagram video clips of her practice heats and second run during the qualifiers. “I didn’t make it to the finals but I’m stoked to be here and skate with the homies.”
In another post, she announced her qualifying for the Olympics with a photo that bears the caption “Going to Tokyo for sushi!” Among those who congratulated Didal were Asian Championships and SEA Games Taekwondo medallist Japoy Lizardo and renowned American action sports director and cinematographer Ty Evans.
Didal won the gold medal for women’s street in the 2018 Asian Games and the 2019 Southeast Asian Games. She was also named the first “Women’s Skater of the Year” at Asia Skateboarding Awards 2020.
She will join nine more Filipino Tokyo 2020 qualifiers including 2016 Rio Games weightlifting silver medalist Hidilyn Diaz, taekwondo jin Kurt Barbosa, rower Cris Nievarez, pole-vaulter EJ Obiena, gymnast Carlos Yulo, and boxers Eumir Marcial, Irish Magno, Nesthy Petecio and Carlo Paalam.
Banner and thumbnail photos from @margielyndidal on Instagram