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Yuto Horigome has made history as the first-ever skateboarder to win an Olympic gold medal.
The Japan native finished in the top spot in the men’s street competition with a total score of 37.18. Kelvin Hoefler won the silver medal, followed by Jagger Eaton grabbing the bronze.
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OLYMPIC HISTORY HAS BEEN MADE.<br><br>Japan’s Yuto Horigome wins the first-EVER Olympic gold medal in skateboarding. <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/TokyoOlympics?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#TokyoOlympics</a> <a href=”https://t.co/6vCN6XpSc9″>pic.twitter.com/6vCN6XpSc9</a>
This year marks the first time for skateboarding as an Olympic event. Saturday’s run will be a historic moment for the sport, as well as all 20 semifinalists who competed in Tokyo.
Men’s Street Result
Gold: Yuto Horigome (Japan), 37.18
Silver: Kelvin Hoefler (Brazil), 36.15
Bronze: Jagger Eaton (United States), 35.35
4th: Vincent Milou (France), 34.14
5th: Angelo Caro Narvaez (Peru), 32.87
6th: Aurelien Giraud (France), 29.09
7th: Nyjah Huston (United States), 26.10
8th: Gustavo Ribeiro (Portugal), 15.05
Horigome made it through qualifying in sixth place, well enough to get into the final. He was hurt by posting just one score of 9.0 or better among the top four scores used to calculate his total.
Since the top eight made it through, Horigome started with a clean slate in the final. The 22-year-old made the most of his second opportunity in the trick portion of the competition.
Horigome already held the top spot heading into his final trick with a score of 35.90. He was able to improve on that by landing his signature grind for a score of 9.30 that bumped his overall total up to 37.18.
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The final trick that secured Japan’s Yuto Horigome as the first Olympic skateboarding champion in HISTORY‼️ <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/TokyoOlympics?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#TokyoOlympics</a> <a href=”https://t.co/iI8vKpjvRd”>pic.twitter.com/iI8vKpjvRd</a>
As it turns out, that was the right strategy for Horigome. Hoefler posted his best trick score of the round on his final run (9.34) and would have taken over the top spot if Horigome had been conservative or failed on his final trick.
The Olympic gold is the culmination of a long process for Horigome, who has long since established himself as the best street skater in the world. He won gold at three World Skate League events in 2018 and the 2019 X Games.
Eaton had to settle for the bronze after crashing on his final trick attempt. The American star had a rough go in the finals overall. He failed to land three of his five trick attempts, forcing him to take a zero as one of his top four totals.
Given the final margin of victory, if Eaton had been able to land one of the three tricks that missed, he would have had a gold medal. The Arizona native did post the highest individual score on a trick in the final (9.40) when he nailed this grind:
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Eaton was still able to walk away from the street skateboarding with a medal. The same can’t be said of Nyjah Huston. The top-ranked skater in the world had a tough day in the trick portion of the competition.
Factoring in the semifinals, Huston failed to land six of his 10 trick attempts. He missed each of his final four tricks in the finals to finish in seventh place overall.
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