MANILA – After sharing the podium at the 33rd Southeast Asian Games, young Filipina skateboarders Mazel Paris Alegado and Elizabeth Amador are taking their act to a bigger stage.
Alegado and Amador will be representing the Philippines in the women's park event at the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan this month.
Alegado made history as the youngest Filipina to win SEA Games gold in her debut in the regional showcase last December at 11 years old.
The now 12-year-old will be making her second appearance in the continental showcase, after her debut in the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China when she was just 9 years old.
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"I'm super happy. I'm super excited. I've been training, and once I [was] told that I've got it, I was like, oh my God, this is so exciting. It's going to be so much fun, especially since it's in Japan, and I'm super proud to represent the Philippines," she told ABS-CBN News in an exclusive online interview on Friday, Philippine time.
The California-based skateboarder finished seventh overall in the women's park event final of the 2023 Asian Games.
With more competitions under her belt, Alegado is coming in with more experience and excitement than ever before.
"When I first competed in the Asian Games, I was a little bit nervous because it was my first really big event, and now I'm way more excited, not nervous," Alegado shared.
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"I've just been training a lot, so I've gotten better at skating, and I'm just super excited, and I've gotten more hyped, and since I've been to much more competitions, I'm more ready... even for my skating, I've gotten stronger and a bit more better," she added.
Aside from her SEA Games gold, Alegado is also coming off double gold at the 31st Mystic Sk8 Cup in Prague last June and silver at the Rockstar Energy Open last month.
"Yeah, it for sure gives me more confidence, especially like, I was just having fun with my friends. I didn't really expect anything, and since I got first, it for sure made me a lot more confident. I'm like, oh my God, this is like so cool. I can't believe I won, and it made me so happy," she shared.
"I usually kind of skate every day, just training, skating, having fun with my friends, and when I do competitions, it really helps me learn what the judges see and how cool it is to stay with all the other girls," Alegado added.
With two weeks left until the Asian Games, Alegado is locked in on training and recovery from injury ahead of the continental showcase.
For the SEA Games gold medalist, her main goal is to have fun and hopefully have this vibrant energy translate into another podium finish.
"My goal for this Asian Games is to just like find a good line and land it and hopefully make it into the finals," she said.
"Having fun in competitions is so good, like it for sure hypes you up, like being nervous, like you might get like a little nerve, like I don't know how to say it, but like you might get nervous and also just have fun and like just don't expect anything. Like even if you want to lose, like at least you're having fun," Alegado added.
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After taking home silver in the women's park event at the SEA Games, Amador is looking forward to her first Asian Games appearance.
"It feels just amazing that I get it and I can be in the actual Asian Games area and then just, it's good," she told ABS-CBN News in an exclusive online interview on Friday, Philippine time.
"I'm bringing more tricks and like, bringing bigger tricks. Like, last time I kind of fell on each run, but this time I'm trying to like, up, I mean, land three runs and like, get bigger tricks," Amador said citing her SEA Games performance.
The 12-year-old is grateful for another opportunity not just to represent the country, but also show young Filipinas that they can excel in skateboarding.
"It means to me very big because if I'm like, in the podium and I can bring my community, the Philippines community up and then like, everybody sees the Philippines athletes in like, trying and it's like, very big to me and it's very happy," she said.
Both Filipina skateboarders competed in the WST World Cup in Rome and the WST Skateboarding World Championships in Brazil, as part of the journey to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
They are hoping to qualify to the Summer Games, following in the footsteps of Margielyn Didal who finished seventh in the women's street final at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Joining Alegado and Amador in the Philippine skateboarding team are SEA Games gold medalist Jericho Francisco (park), who narrowly missed the podium in the 2023 Asian Games, as well as Renzo Mark Feliciano and Renz Jumao-as Gelig (street) in the men's side.
Skateboarding at the Asian Games is scheduled from September 21 to 27 (park event – September 21 to 25, street event – September 25 to 27) at the Aichi Sky Expo.