Street League Skateboarding is in Miami for the first time. It’s an international skateboarding tournament and some of the best in the U.S. are here this weekend, including a South Florida native.
CBS News Miami caught up with a few skateboarders who are here to compete.
A skating competition filled with international stars, local heroes
SLS is making its debut on Friday with several icons of the skating world, including international star Rayssa Leal. She made history as the youngest Olympic medalist in 85 years, earning silver in street skateboarding at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo at just 13 years old.
When asked what it means for her to have so much hard work pay off early in her life, Leal said it all happened “really fast.”
“I mean like just having fun [with] every single contest,” she said.
Since then, Leal has continued to dominate, taking back-to-back first-place titles at the 2022 and 2023 SLS Super Crown World Championship. She told CBS News Miami that the key to her success is having fun.
“We fall, we go up and we go again,” Leal said. “[It] makes the skateboards feel like not only a sport — we are like a big family.”
But it’s a special competition this year for one of the skaters.
Jamie Foy, who earned the highest skateboarding honors, including Thrasher Skater of the Year in 2017 and 2024, the South Florida native is looking forward to skating in front of his home crowd.
“I’m excited because we had a Street League in Florida but it was up in Jacksonville, which was a lot different,” he said. “Now, we’re here in South Florida, and to me, it’s like South Florida is the real Florida.”
And what makes it even more special? The skate course is modeled after iconic South Florida skate parks.
“Miami is a kind of Mecca for skateboarding,” Foy said. “It’s been a very popular destination ever since the ’90s.”
It all begins Friday at the Watsco Center in Coral Gables.
