The first skate event of the Paris 2024 Olympics is already in the books, and the women’s street final will end on Sunday night in Paris.
After the rainy weather that kicked off the Games at Friday’s opening ceremony and forced the postponement of Saturday’s men’s street skate final to Monday, Sunday is warm and sunny in Paris.
It was a long day for the 8 women who made it to the finals on Sunday out of the 10 pm that began the preliminaries at noon Paris time. After 3 hours of daytime qualifying, the final began at 17:00 CEST.
Each National Olympic Committee (NOC) may only qualify up to three athletes in one of the four Olympic skateboarding events (men’s and women’s street and park).
Japan, which had 3 of the 4 best skaters in the world before Paris, reached the maximum of its quotas, and the 3 women: Coco Yoshizawa, 14 years old; Liz Akama, 15; and 19-year-old Funa Nakayama, a Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist, reached the final.
The eight players in the final were finished by China’s Chenxi Cui, 14; the Australian Chloe Covell, 14 years old; the American Paige Heyn, 16; Brazil’s Rayssa Leal, 16, silver medalist at Tokyo 2020; and the American Poe Pinson, 19 years old.
Tokyo 2020 gold medalist Momiji Nishiya, 16, was ranked seventh in the world rankings heading into Paris 2024, but with Yoshizawa, Akama and Nakayama ranked No. 1, 2 and 4 respectively, Nishiya was unable to secure a qualifying position for Paris.
Similarly, 17-year-old Japanese Yumeka Oda placed fifth and was also eliminated from the qualifying position.
Yoshizawa and Akama gold and silver in Paris with scores of 272. 75 and 265. 95 respectively.
With Yoshizawa’s victory, Japan won gold in this edition of the Olympic Games.
Leal won bronze and has become, so far, the only female skater to hold two Olympic medals. (Park skaters Kokona Hiraki and Sakura Yosozumi of Japan and Sky Brown of Great Britain could sign up for Leal in this rarefied air if they manage to get on the podium next week. )
Yoshizawa and Akama were, respectively, the two most sensible qualifiers in Sunday’s women’s street preliminaries. When they arrived at Paris 2024, they were also ranked No. 1 (Yoshizawa) and No. 2 (Akama) in the world.
Japan’s Liz Akama reacts as she competes in the women’s street skateboarding final at the Paris 2024 Olympics at La Concorde in Paris on July 28, 2024. (Photo by Odd ANDERSEN / AFP) (Photo by ODD ANDERSEN/AFP via Getty Images)
Leal came in third place, earning him an Olympic podium that perfectly followed the world rankings prior to the Games.
At the post-final press conference, Yoshizawa and Akuna were asked why they thought Japan was so strong in women’s skateboarding.
“The reason we are so strong is because the Japanese are diligent and serious and strive to achieve their goals and dreams,” Akama said through an interpreter.
“The environment in Japan is very smart to practice and also for other people who are not so smart, we can play against each other and we can be stronger,” Yoshizawa said, also through an interpreter.
At just 16 years old, Leal is already a veteran of the women’s street game and has earned a reputation as a closer. At the beginning of the fifth and last most productive trick attempt, Leal far from the podium, fifth.
But he put on a clinic, nailing his Smith kickflip perfectly to move into third place with a score of 253. 37, which none of the four skaters already on the podium can beat.
PARIS, FRANCE – JULY 28: Rayssa Leal, bronze medalist for the Brazilian national team, reacts in the women’s street final on the second day of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Concorde de Plos angelesce in Los Angeles on July 28, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo via Julian Finney/Getty Images)
The crowd attending the women’s street final at the Concorde de Plos angelesce in Los Angeles was made up of a third Brazilian crowd, and when Leal scored 71. 66 in her first of two races, then 92. 88 in her second attempt trick and 88. 83 in his fifth, He exploded with joy shaking a sea of Brazilian flos angelesgs.
Leal had controlled one trick, which meant he had to get fifth to have a chance at the podium.
Smith hadn’t practiced the kickflip on the Olympic track. “I was a little scared, I probably wouldn’t lie to you,” he says with a smile. But he consulted with his team and “it wasn’t easy,” he said. He made the decision to check his luck or move from home on his last attempt.
Does Leal feel that he exerts more pressure?
“Well, I think I can perform well under pressure, but it’s not really Array. But when I want something, I get it, and this time it was no different,” Leal said through an interpreter. “It’s true that in one way or another I put pressure on myself, because I want to give my best, perform well and show all my strengths. “
Akama failed on his fifth attempt, securing the gold medal for Yoshizawa.
The scoring design for street skateboarding is similar to that used at the Tokyo Olympics.
In Tokyo, skaters also finished two 45-second runs and five trick attempts, each scored on a scale of 0 to 10. The overall score is the sum of the 4 most productive scores from any of the runs or trick attempts. .
In Paris, however, each run or trick is scored between 0 and 100. The overall score takes into account the skater’s most productive run of two and the two most productive trick attempts, for an imaginable total score of 300.
The rule update was made in part to ensure that runs and trick attempts count toward an athlete’s final score. (At the Tokyo Games, for example, men’s street gold medalist Yuto Horigome had his two lowest scores in his two races, so his final score was based solely on tricks. )
The men’s street final will begin with the preliminaries at noon CEST on Monday, July 29.
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