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Sunday, September 8, 2024

Yoshizawa, 14, wins Olympic street skateboard gold in Japan one-two

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Japanese 14-year-old Coco Yoshizawa won women’s street skateboard gold at the Paris Olympics on Sunday in an all-teenage final.

Fellow Japanese Liz Akama took silver with Brazilian Rayssa Leal collecting bronze at Place de La Concorde.

Yoshizawa racked up 272.75 points from her three best runs.

Akama, herself only aged 15, collected 265.95 for second and Leal finished on 253.37, comfortably ahead of fourth-placed Cui Chenxi of China.

Leal, who won silver at Tokyo last time out, was the oldest of the three medallists in the French capital at 16.

After the deluge that forced the postponement of the men’s event the previous day, the sun returned Sunday and the temporary arena became a humid cauldron.

Skaters can afford to fall and score nothing four times in their seven attempts.

Yoshizawa went into her penultimate trick with two big scores but needing a third to complete her total. She still went for a high-risk ride down the hand-rail, and nailed it.

Even though all her rivals had one more run, she raised her board above her head in triumph.

The skateboarding resumes on Monday with the men’s street event postponed from Saturday.

With defending Olympic champion Yuto Horigome, Sora Shirai and 14-year-old Ginwoo Onodera, Japan could again dominate.

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