Diego
Poncelet
Spain
·
Skateboarding
Date of birth | 27 July 1999 |
|---|---|
Place of birth | Mexico City |
Age | 27 |
Nationality | Spain |
Discipline | Adventure Sports Various |
Born in Mexico City and raised between Spain and Switzerland, Diego Poncelet grew up drawn to speed. Motorsport and freeride skiing came first, but downhill skateboarding eventually combined his interest in racing with the freedom and culture of skateboarding.
How downhill skateboarding became his calling
Diego’s first encounter with downhill skateboarding came unexpectedly. As a child, he saw someone skating down a steep road at high speed and became convinced the rider must have crashed at the roundabout below. When there was no sign of an accident, the moment sparked his curiosity about the sport.
Years later, as a teenager, he met skateboarders who taught him how to descend mountain roads and control his speed. Downhill skateboarding brought together his interest in racing with the culture and creativity of skateboarding.
After breaking his leg skiing in 2016, Diego set himself the goal of becoming a world champion. A year later, he began competing.
From setbacks to two world titles
Diego’s progress was gradual. By 2020, he was achieving strong results in Europe but was still working towards competing consistently with the sport’s leading international riders. The setbacks along the way pushed him to refine his technical approach and improve his racing.
His breakthrough came in 2022. Poncelet won two of the three rounds of the World Downhill Skateboarding Championship, taking victories in Monticiano and Cappadocia to secure his first world title.
A year later, he successfully defended the crown in Erzincan, Türkiye. After finishing third in the opening race and winning the second, he edged Harry Clarke by three points to become a back-to-back world champion.
Alongside championship racing, Diego began taking on new challenges that explored different sides of downhill skateboarding.
Setting a downhill skateboarding world speed record
In September 2026, Poncelet achieved one of his biggest ambitions, setting a new Guinness World Records™ record for the fastest skateboard speed in a standing position. He reached 151.83kph (94.34mph) on a closed section of Route des Éboulements in Québec, Canada, surpassing the previous record of 146.73kph set in 2017.
The achievement was years in the making. Poncelet combined extensive high-speed training with wind-tunnel testing, aerodynamic equipment and detailed preparation for the demanding 2.2km descent. On his first day of testing, he had already narrowly surpassed the previous record with a run of 146.88kph, but he was determined to go faster.
After waiting five days for better conditions, he returned to the same stretch of road on September 22 and broke the 150kph barrier, reaching a top speed of 151.83kph.
“I knew falling was not an option,” Poncelet said, reflecting on the risks of attempting the record at such extreme speeds.
The record marked a new chapter in Poncelet's career, taking his pursuit of speed beyond competition and into the record books.
Watch Diego Poncelet set the world record for the fastest skateboard speed in a standing position.
Beyond racing
Diego’s interest in pushing boundaries also extends behind the camera. In 2024, he directed Tem, a personal short film centred on friendship, before following it with Diciembre in 2025, an intimate documentary portrait of a young skateboarder from Medellín and his relationship with risk.
Filmmaking has become another way for Diego to tell the stories and explore the personalities surrounding downhill skateboarding, extending his relationship with the sport beyond competition and personal performance.
Away from skating, he also studied International Relations at King’s College London, an academic path that has helped shape the broader perspective he brings to his projects.