Why Rome Matters
The Foro Italico course is notoriously demanding. The marble-adjacent surfaces, the long manual pad sections, and the tight stairset combinations punish inconsistency. It's not a course where style alone carries you — you need to land your tricks. That said, it rewards skaters who can string together creative lines, and that's where the women's field gets genuinely interesting in 2026.
Rome is also a high-stakes stop for Olympic qualification points, which means every athlete in the field is skating with more pressure than usual. Expect firsts. Expect slams. Expect runs that nobody had on their bingo card.
Athletes to Watch
- Rayssa Leal The Brazilian phenom has been the most consistent skater on the women's circuit for three years running. At 17, she's already a two-time Olympic medalist and her trick selection in Rome last year was a masterclass in reading a course. She tends to open conservatively and build — by her final run she's usually operating on a different level than everyone else on the course.
- Chloe Covell Australia's Chloe Covell is the wildcard that no one can afford to ignore. She skates with an aggression that's rare at any level, and her ability to absorb impact on heavy tricks means she can attempt lines that other skaters won't risk in competition. Rome's stairsets play directly into her strengths.
- Hikari Satake Japan's Hikari Satake is technically one of the cleanest skaters in the world right now. Her flip trick consistency on manual pads is borderline unfair, and on a course like Rome — where manual combos can define a run — she's a genuine podium threat every time she drops in.
- Pamela Rosa Rosa has been quietly putting together one of her strongest seasons in years. She tends to underperform relative to her ability in terms of rankings, but when she's locked in she's one of the most complete street skaters on the circuit. Watch for her in the prelims.
- Momiji Nishiya The 2020 Olympic gold medalist from Tokyo has matured significantly as a competitive skater. She's no longer the youngest skater shocking the field — she's now one of the veterans, and she skates like it. Technical, controlled, and capable of a major result when the pressure is on.
The Course
The 2026 Rome course features an extended flat rail section that connects directly into a hubba, a double-set staircase with a narrow landing, and a long downhill manual pad that most skaters use to set up their final trick. The additions this year compared to 2025 include a raised bank section near the middle of the course that opens up new line possibilities — particularly for skaters who can skate transition and street interchangeably.
The surface is faster than it looks on camera. Skaters who have sessioned Rome before talk about the speed surprise — the course runs quicker than the Dew Tour or X Games setups, which means trucks need to be set up accordingly. Expect to see some early slams from skaters calibrating their approach in the prelims.
Our Call
If the field shows up healthy and the weather holds — Rome can get unpredictably hot in June — Rayssa Leal is the favorite. She's the most consistent skater in women's street right now and Rome is a course that rewards consistency above everything else.
The fight for second and third is genuinely open. Covell on a good day can beat anyone. Satake's technical consistency gives her a ceiling that's hard to argue with. And there's always the possibility of someone outside the top names — a Laeticia Bruni, a Charlotte Hym, a Yumeka Oda — putting together the run of their life on a course that rewards creativity.
That's what makes Rome worth watching. Follow @girlskate__ for live updates, results, and the clips that matter.