Saunders, has been selected to represent team Australia at the World Skate Championships, which is one of the qualification events in order to get into the Olympics.  

The event will be held in Rio De Janeiro and takes place between January 8 to January 13 in 2019, the event is part of the Street League Series(SLS). 

Saunders, said he was initially shocked when he received the news to represent Australia for the first time. 

“I was pretty shocked, but happy at the same time that I got the opportunity to go,” he said. 

“I’m pretty excited. I am pretty nervous but I am just going to see how it goes and enjoy the experience.”

However, Saunders had no intention of at least trying out for the Olympics so soon, instead he had his eyes set on the 2024 games. 

“I was looking more at 2024, but it has happened pretty quickly,” he said. 

“I am going to try(for the Tokyo 2020 games), but I am not expecting anything.”

His father, Peter said that he is still overwhelmed with the news. 

“It is still overwhelming,” he said. 

“He had plans to do it, but not at this age.

“He was sort of  thinking another four years or so, he has improved a lot.” 

The event itself is the first round of Olympic qualifying and Peter said that if he can finish in the top 40 he is halfway there. 

“If he can get top 38 in this event he is probably half way to get to the Olympics,” he said. 

“It’s pretty exciting that he is part of the first world Championships of skate boarding.”

It caps off a major year in skating for the 16 year old, as he traveled around the world doing competitions, which include the X Games- which is one of the biggest events in extreme sports. 

During the X Games Saunders said it was a daunting experience as he was competing against skaters that he looked up to. 

In order to get into the X Games though, he had go through the Australian qualifications in which he finished second. 

“The X Games is an invite only contest,” he said. 

“They look at the rankings and my friends and I had the highest rankings, then we went into a qualification and the top three from that go into the X Games.

“It was pretty exciting, it was the biggest contest that I have been in.”

Heading into the Championships, Saunders has one aim in mind. 

“I just want to skate as good as I can and to have fun.”