Mesa skateboarder Jagger Eaton recently posed as Captain America for a Marvel photo shoot with Olympic sport athletes.

Gymnast Simone Biles as Black Widow, swimmer Nathan Adrian as Thor and track sprinter Allyson Felix as Ms. Marvel also were recruited to work with makeup artist Kandee Johnson and photographer Peter Yang for a project promoting the Marvel’s Avengers video game.

“That was one of the coolest photo shoots I’ve ever gotten to do,” said Eaton, 19, who has had such opportunities for almost half his life going back to his X Games debut at age 11 in 2012. “It was so sick. All the way down to where it was at in West Hollywood. I had such a good time. It was so rad.”

If the foursome can tap deeper into their superhero personas to will the Tokyo Olympics into existence next summer, that truly would be rad. 

Felix, Adrian and Biles have a combined 22 Olympics medals, 15 of those gold. 

Eaton is trying to make his first Olympics, coinciding with skateboarding’s Olympic debut. He is a contender in both of the sport’s disciplines — park and street — but competition abounds for a maximum of three U.S. men’s qualifiers per event.

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, skateboard Olympic qualifying has been on hold since November 2019, when Eaton was second in park at a meet in Rio de Janeiro.

In March the Olympics were postponed until 2021, and the second season of skateboard qualifying has been extended until June 29, 2021, to provide scheduling flexibility. So Eaton — No. 8 in the world (fourth among Americans) in park, No. 20 in street (sixth) — trains and waits for what will be a race to the finish line once World Skate commits to a 2021 schedule.

“I fully have a shot to make both (events),” said Eaton, who missed the 2019 World Championships due to an ankle injury. “There would be no point to compete in both if I didn’t think I was going to win both. 

“Going into 2021 healthy and really working on my craft, better in shape, feeling more comfortable on my skateboard, having my tricks dialed. My mindset is way different. I feel way better.”

Eaton moved to Encinitas, near San Diego, in March for the summer weather, training sites, filming a street video with his childhood friend Kam Krigel and golfing. Being away from home proved difficult, though, because his maternal grandfather was in intensive care for a week with COVID-19.

Three weeks ago, he took three-time X Games champion Ryan Sheckler up on offer to compete in Red Bull Solus, a digital skate contest in which 13 professionals skated individually for an hour at Sheckler’s park in San Clemente, California, to film their best continuous line of 45 seconds to a minute.

Videos of the skaters are posted online along with fan favorite award voting. Judging results will be announced during a Red Bull Signature Series episode at 8 a.m. Sunday on Fox Sports 1.

“Sheckler was super dope letting us skate that park,” Eaton said. “I kind of grew up doing that” at Kids That Rip, an indoor skateboard park created by his father, Geoff. “I did three lines. The second one I tried to up the ante and the third one I did the last 10 minutes. It was good to get in that competitive mindset again. 

“It was 85 degrees in the park and so humid. I got told after I was the only one who didn’t take my shirt off. It was a great contest.” The winner will receive $2,500 to donate to a local skate shop (Eaton’s choice is Cowtown Skateboards in Phoenix).

The Solus (Latin for solo) contest is a first step back to competition and what Eaton hopes will be a reunion with his superhero pals in Tokyo.

“I’ve always been pretty good at taking circumstances and making the best out of it,” Eaton said. “I’m young so I have some time. I gained a lot of knowledge this year. I’m ready to get it (qualifying) started. Whenever they give me the date, I’m off running.”

More: Jagger Eaton vying to make first Olympic skateboarding team and fulfill family destiny

More: Building Team Arizona for Tokyo Olympics: Local connections in Summer Games

Reach the reporter at [email protected] or 602-444- Follow him on Twitter @jeffmetcalfe.

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