Quick answer: The main types of skateboarding are street, park, vert and downhill (with slalom alongside downhill). Street and park are the two Olympic disciplines. Vert is skated on a tall halfpipe. Downhill is a timed race down steep roads. They all start from the same fundamentals: stance, pushing, balance, turning, stopping and falling safely.
This month is a good time to learn the difference. Street skateboarding features at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games (2–5 November), downhill racers line up in Thailand from 13 November, the World Skateboarding Tour heads to Utsunomiya, Japan for street from 16 November, and a vert open runs in Shenzhen, China from 26 November. Knowing what each discipline is makes every contest easier to follow, and helps you choose where to start on your own board.
How skateboarding disciplines are organised
World Skate, the international federation for skateboarding, groups street, park and vert under skateboarding, and runs skateboarding downhill and skateboarding slalom as part of its downhill group of sports (with street luge). Each discipline has its own competition rules.
Street skateboarding
Street skateboarding uses the obstacles you find in towns and cities: stairs, handrails, ledges, benches, gaps and banks. Contest courses copy those features. It is the style most people picture when they think of skateboarding, and it is where the ollie and flip tricks became famous.
- Where you skate it: plazas, flat ground, skatepark street sections and spots you find with BUTR Spots.
- How contests work: World Skate street events can combine timed runs with single best trick attempts. Five judges score each run or trick from 0 to 100; the highest and lowest scores are dropped and the middle three are averaged.
- Good first goal: comfortable pushing, turning and a controlled stop on flat ground before any obstacle.
Park skateboarding
Park skateboarding happens in bowls and transitions: curved walls, quarter pipes, hips and coping. Instead of jumping onto obstacles, park skaters carry speed by pumping through the curves and do tricks at the top of the walls or in the air.
- Where you skate it: concrete bowls and the transition sections of skateparks.
- How contests work: park is judged on runs only. Under World Skate rules skaters get two to four runs of 30 to 50 seconds, and their best run counts.
- Good first goal: rolling up and down a small transition and learning to pump before dropping into anything steeper.
Street vs park skateboarding: what is the difference?
The quickest way to tell them apart is the terrain. Street is flat ground plus obstacles (ledges, rails, stairs). Park is curved transition (bowls and ramps). Many skaters do both, and most skateparks include a mix. Neither is “harder”: they use different skills. Street rewards precise board control and pop; park rewards flow, speed and line choice.
Vert skateboarding
Vert, short for vertical, is skated on a large halfpipe whose walls curve up to a fully vertical section at the top. Skaters go back and forth, building speed to launch airs and tricks above the coping. It is spectacular to watch and needs a solid base in transition skating first.
- How contests work: World Skate vert events use runs of 30 to 45 seconds, scored by five judges in the same drop-high-and-low way as street and park.
- Good first goal: it starts on mini ramps. Learn to pump and kick-turn on small transition long before you go near a vert ramp.
Downhill skateboarding (and slalom)
Downhill skateboarding is racing, not tricks. Riders on specialised boards race down steep roads, usually in heats of four, and the fastest rider wins. World Skate's downhill rulebook describes speeds of up to 120 km/h on straights for experienced, aerodynamic riders with high-quality equipment, and sanctioned events have a minimum competition age of 14.
- Why it is different: downhill needs advanced speed control, sliding and full safety equipment. The rulebook even allows officials to remove riders who are not capable on the course.
- Slalom: a separate racing discipline where skaters weave through a line of cones against the clock.
- Good first goal: learn to control speed on gentle slopes, carve smoothly and stop reliably. Never try a steep hill or open road while you are learning.
Which type of skateboarding should you start with?
For most people, the best start is simply cruising and flat ground, which feeds directly into street and park. All four disciplines rest on the same fundamentals:
- Find your stance (regular or goofy).
- Learn to push and stop and to turn.
- Practise falling safely and wear the right protective gear.
- Warm up before every session with our skateboard warm-up.
- Follow skatepark etiquette when you start sharing ramps and bowls.
Your setup can lean towards a style later. Smaller, harder wheels suit street; slightly larger wheels help in bowls (see our skateboard wheels guide and truck size guide).
Watching the contests this month
When you watch street at the Youth Olympic Games or the World Skateboarding Tour, look at how skaters use the obstacles and how runs and best tricks are scored. When you watch downhill, notice body position and how riders control speed through corners. Every discipline is a fundamental done at a very high level. Event details and official results are on worldskate.org.
Keep Pushing
Street, park, vert or downhill, they all start with the same board under your feet. Build your fundamentals, try different terrain and find the style that makes you want to keep skating.
Which type of skateboarding do you enjoy most, or want to try next? Tell us in the comments below.
