Matías Dell Olio wins BRICS Skate Cup 2026 in Buenos Aires

Argentine skater Matías Dell Olio won gold at the second BRICS Skate Cup, a multination urban sports and culture festival held in Buenos Aires on September 1, 2026. The event drew 987 athletes from 27 countries and mixed skateboarding competition with inline freestyle, scooter freestyle, panels and exhibitions.

Why it matters: - Matías Dell Olio's win adds another major title to an Argentine skater who was already an Olympic finalist in Paris 2024 and the 2024 world runner-up. - The BRICS Skate Cup is positioning itself as a global platform for skateboarding and broader urban culture, not just a competition. - The event brought together athletes from BRICS members and several non-member countries, showing the sport's reach beyond the bloc.

What happened: - Matías Dell Olio won gold in the second BRICS Skate Cup on September 1, 2026, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. - The skateboarding competition used the street format. - Jarudech Saejao of Thailand took silver. - Semen Kutuzov of Russia took bronze. - The festival included international skateboarding, inline freestyle contests and the scooter freestyle championship. - The program also included debate panels and exhibitions. - The event drew 987 athletes from 27 countries. - The lineup included the 10 BRICS member states plus Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Bahrain, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Madagascar, Oman, Turkey and Yemen, among others.

The details: - Dell Olio said the BRICS Skate Cup is one of the best competitions in the world. - Dell Olio said he has traveled to competitions for 15 years and had not found another place where skaters are treated the same way. - Dell Olio said he trained heavily, not only for this event but for the coming years of his career. - Gleb Bentsiovski, founder of the Skateboarding Museum and author on the history of skateboarding in the USSR, said skateboarding has evolved over more than 75 years from a children's game into an elite sport. - Bentsiovski said the BRICS Skate Cup is unique because participants competed, shared experiences with beginners, learned the sport's history in an interactive format and connected with contemporary art. - BRICS SKATE CUP is built around skateboarding competition for professional athletes from BRICS countries and other states. - The first edition took place in 2024 in Nizhny Novgorod. - The 2024 event drew guests from 23 countries. - The 2024 edition coincided with a BRICS foreign ministers meeting.

Between the lines: - The event is blending sport, education and culture to broaden its appeal beyond core skateboarding fans. - Buenos Aires hosting the second edition signals the festival's push to rotate across major cities and build an international profile. - Dell Olio's comments suggest the event is trying to stand out on athlete experience as much as competition quality.

What's next: - BRICS Skate Cup appears set to continue expanding its international field and cultural programming. - Dell Olio said he is preparing for the next years of his career, indicating more competition ahead. - The festival's format suggests future editions may keep pairing elite competition with outreach to new skaters and broader urban-art audiences.