MARGIELYN Didal knows what it’s like to skate in the streets. And with the pandemic restrictions shutting down all venues, she’s had to go back to it just so she can keep her Olympic dream alive.
“Since I started skating I always used to go to our local park, but they shut down and, since then, I’ve just been skating the streets – and getting kicked out,” she said in an interview with Red Bull.
But now, 22-year-old has officially leveled up as she proudly unveiled her own private training facility in the mountain resort of Soul Sierra in Cebu.
Completed in early 2021, it was designed with inputs from Didal herself, based on her experiences training abroad. Red Bull describes the private park as “a small and private training facility where she could dial in her technique with a view to setting the global women’s contest circuit alight.”
Boots Brandon, whose team built and designed the skate park, said, “I always [based] my design on Margielyn’s ideas.”
The video also showed off workout equipment for the Cebu City native’s cross-training needs.
The skatepark was jointly funded by Red Bull and the National Skateboarding Association.
“The recent pandemic showed that skateboarding was one of the sports allowed to be practiced after lockdown. From it being illegal in some places to skateboarding facilities being created, it’s now free to skate in the Philippines,” said NSA president Carl Sambrano in a statement. “Regionally, the Philippines is number one. We have the most medals than any other country, in both men’s and women’s.”
This year will mark the first time skateboarding will appear as a medal sport in the Olympics. The global sporting body has said that Didal is ranked the no. 14 best women’s street skateboarder in the world. For each of the four events, only 20 skateboarders will be qualified to compete in the Olympics.
Just this year, Didal was also awarded the Asia Skater of the Year award.
“It’s such an honor to be one of the skateboarders to represent the Philippines. I’m really hyped!” said Didal in a statement.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph