Connecticut Athletes Ready for Olympic Competition

When skateboarding makes its Olympic debut, Connecticut will be represented.  Old Saybrook native Alexis Sablone will compete in Women’s Skateboard Street.  She has amassed seven X Games medals with three golds, two silvers, and two bronzes in women’s street, one of two disciplines to be featured during the Games. 

In Street competitions, skaters perform a variety of tricks on a course consisting of rails, benches, ramps, stairs and other features you might encounter on a city street, according to USA Today. Olympic-style competition consists of two 45-second runs, and five single-trick attempts. The top four of those seven scores are added to determine the final overall score.

In the other discipline, Park, the course more closely resembles a hollowed-out bowl, allowing skaters to ride up the side and perform tricks in mid-air. Skaters have three 45-second runs in which to complete tricks, and only the score from the best run counts.  Both disciplines typically feature a variety of tricks, including board flips and grinds, where skaters slide a part of the board on the edge of a bowl or rail.

Sablone is not alone among USA Olympians from Connecticut.  Also on Team USA are:

·         Liam Corrigan – Rowing (Old Lyme)

·         Austin Hack – Rowing (Old Lyme)

·         Alyssa Naeher – Soccer (Stratford)

·         Kieran Smith – Swimming (Ridgefield)

Corrigan got his start in rowing at Old Lyme Rowing Association/Blood Street Sculls and went on to row for Harvard University.  Hack competed in the 2016 Rio Games, finishing fourth in the men’s eight.  Naeher, a goalkeeper, also was a member of the USA roster for the 2016 Games. Smith, who competes in the 200-meter Freestyle and 400 Freestyle, is a 14-time NCAA All American and Four-time SEC Champion, set to compete in his first Olympic Games. 

Scheduled to compete with the U.S. Paralympic team is Matthew Torres of Ansonia, in the Swimming competition. Torres took up swimming in 2008 after watching Michael Phelps at the Beijing Olympics, and competed in the 2019 World Para Swimming World Series in multiple events. 

Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont is among the well-wishers, on the brink of the Summer Olympic Games and Paralympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.

“It fills me with enormous pride that we have a group of athletes from Connecticut who have advanced so far in their sports that they have qualified to represent Team USA on a worldwide stage in the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games,” Governor Lamont said.

“It takes a strong will to make it as far as they have, and their commitment to excellence makes them great role models for so many young athletes. I wish them all the best, and I can guarantee that there will be a strong contingent of us back home in Connecticut who will be cheering them on while they compete in Tokyo,” Lamont added.

The Connecticut athletes list was compiled by the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, based on the location the athletes indicated as their hometown.