You could say 19-year-old Tate Carew and 17-year-old Gavin Bottger were born to skate. They grew up on opposite ends of San Diego County, but their lives would quickly intertwine in the middle. It's a day they both remember.
"It was at Clairemont Skatepark," Carew said.
Carew, from Point Loma, and Bottger, from Oceanside, are two of the best skaters in the world, and they grew up together.
"It's like we're brothers, almost ... Always bickering and getting into fights," Bottger said.
Get top local stories in San Diego delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC San Diego's News Headlines newsletter.
More Olympic Skateboarding
From kids competing in some of the biggest competitions in America to teens traveling the globe together, they know each other's strengths on a board better than anyone.
Bottger describes Carew's skating as "mad."
"Trying to like break the coping or break his board," Bottger said.
Carew's word for Bottger is effortless.
"He's like one of the very few people that skate the events without pads, and people don't understand how much that changes like your mentality. And just the risk factor is much higher, and he still does everything and keeps up with all of us wearing pads, and not to mention he's younger than all of us," Carew said.
In a dream scenario, Bottger and Carew are in Paris together as competitors and best friends on the biggest stage.
"Just kind of both growing up skating together, and the way that we both just turned out very different skaters, very different styles, but still get to go and like share this kind of experience together is pretty amazing," Carew said.
Two Olympic journeys with three medals up for grabs. So what does the perfect Paris ending look like?
"I feel like if we're both on the podium, it doesn't really matter," Carew said.
It's the same plan they've always had: skate hard and hopefully meet somewhere back in the middle.
When are the park skateboarding finals?
On Wednesday, Bottger did not advance past the preliminary round but Carew and fellow local Tom Schaar advanced and will compete in the finals at 8:30 a.m. PT. Watch on USA or on Peacock at the link above.
Schaar, of Encinitas, is heading into the medal event ranking second on the leaderboard with a high score of 92.05. Keegan Palmer, the reigning gold medalist from Tokyo, is first with 93.78.
San Diego native Carew is fourth with a high score of 90.42. The top eight skaters from the heats qualify for the finals
