on deck

Skateboarding at the Olympics? When CORY JUNEAU was growing up in southern California, the idea was laughable. Now it’s reality, and he’s an Olympian. Sick!

- Sarah Rense

CORY JUNEAU AWAITS HIS TURN IN THE BOWL AT A SKATE PARK IN Encinitas, California, one of his go-to spots when he’s home in San Diego. He peers over the lip. “Homie’s teaching the young locals how to skate,” he says. An instructor is working with a kid—a grom, in skaters peak—no older than six and wearing pads on every limb. The grom wipes out. This will take a minute, so Juneau kills time by riding along the bowl’s perimeter. He lands a kickflip but fudges the heelflip that follows. “My legs are so sore,” he says, slightly embarrassed. It’s late May, and he just got back from competing in the Dew Tour, as in Mountain Dew, in Iowa, where he placed eighth. But it’s no big deal, since he’s already a lock for a spot on Team USA for the Tokyo Games.

Juneau, twenty-two, is known for his flowing style atop a skateboard and his seemingly effortless execution of the most difficult tricks. He prefers skating to walking. If he’s walking, he might trip. He’s ranked second in the world in park skateboarding, which takes place in what are essentially wonky swimming pools without water. Street skating, the more popular of the two styles, incorporates fixtures found in public settings, like stairways and cement ledges; both styles debut this year as official Olympic events.