Japan’s Yuto Horigome wins second Olympic gold medal in men’s street skateboarding｜Arab News Japan

PARIS: Japan’s Yuto Horigome has won two consecutive gold medals at the Olympic Games in men’s street skateboarding, scoring a near-perfect 97.08 on his fifth and final trick on Monday to surpass Americans Jagger Eaton and Nyjah Huston.

Horigome finished just 0.1 points ahead of Eaton, who despite a brilliant performance had to settle for silver. Huston took bronze, still an improvement on a disappointing seventh place three years ago in Tokyo when skateboarding made its Olympic debut.

The 25-year-old Horigome came up empty-handed on his second, third and fourth tricks, then stunned the crowd on his final attempt. Hutson and Eaton both fell on his fifth attempt, making Horigome the Olympic champion once again.

Snoop Dogg, who has quickly become one of the celebrities of the Paris Games, was in attendance and gave Huston some well-deserved recognition. Huston nailed his second run with a Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg song blasting through the speakers around La Concorde Urban Park.

It turned out not to be a winning song for the American skateboarder, after Horigome’s last-minute jump turned things upside down.

The competition was scheduled for Saturday, but the same rain that drenched the opening ceremony across the Seine — and then more through the night and morning — forced it to be postponed. World Skate cited adverse weather conditions as the reason for the rescheduling, and it was one of the few outdoor events hit over the weekend before the skies cleared.

Sunny, warm weather greeted the skateboarders on Monday, with temperatures hovering around 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius) late in the preliminary round and throughout the final. The stands remained full despite the heat and France’s Vincent Milou and Aurélien Giraud failing to make it out of the preliminary rounds.

Also failing to reach the final were 14-year-old Japanese skateboarder Ginwoo Onodera, making his Olympic debut, and Chris Joslin from the US, who had an off day.

AP