Horigome retains men’s street skateboarding title; wins gold after performing risky trick

Yuto Horigome, the reigning Olympic champion in men’s street skating, showed his true colors when he was about to miss out on the podium, pulling off a flawless last-minute trick to take gold.

Horigome’s best run and two best single tricks earned him a total score of 281.14, just one-tenth of a point more than American skateboarder Jagger Eaton.

With only a single trick score after four attempts, Horigome had dropped to seventh place. As he began his fifth and final attempt, he thought, “Whether I laugh or cry, this is the last moment. I will leave no regrets behind.”

It was the big trick—the trick he had only successfully performed once in an official competition—that he chose for his final attempt. He pulled off a flawless nollie 270 to noseblunt slide. This involves spinning 270 degrees in the air and landing with the nose of the board on a rail.

After the trick he screamed, unusual for a usually calm skater, while the spectators went wild.

With this trick he scored 97.08 points, the highest score ever for a skater in the competition.

The same trick won Horigome the Olympic qualifying series in June and gave him the chance to defend his gold. Horigome had failed to perform the trick several times since then, both in the run-up to the competition and during the competition. The repeated falls had left his middle red and swollen. His body was at breaking point, he said.

In his teens, Horigome moved to the United States and became the best skater, despite being repeatedly told he had no chance of winning there. He also made a comeback at the Tokyo Olympics to claim victory.

Horigome said, “I could believe there was only a 1% chance, and myself.” The competition was a true testament to his skateboarding career, in which he repeatedly overcame adversity. He is the first skateboarder in Olympic history to win two consecutive gold medals.