You read that right: 13-year-old Momiji Nishiya has won the first ever Olympic gold medal for women’s street skateboarding. This makes her Japan’s youngest Olympic champion, a title that until today belonged to Kyoko Iwasaki who, at age 14, scored a gold medal in Barcelona during the 1992 Summer Olympics.
Nishiya’s victory came a day after Japan’s Yuto Horigome took the first Olympic gold medal for men’s street skateboarding. Both medals carry extra significance given that this is skateboarding’s debut in the Olympic Games.
Representing Team Japan alongside Nishiya was 16-year-old Funa Nakayama, who took bronze, and 19-year-old Aori Nishimura. They were all competing against the Netherlands, USA, China, Brazil and the Philippines.
The final competition was a tense one, with each competitor missing key landings while attempting stunts, making it impossible to predict who would come out on top. Nishiya herself fell twice during the trick portion of the event, but got back on her feet smiling each time to secure the lead.
Here’s the final result:
- Momiji Nishiya (Japan) – 15.26 points
- Rayssa Leal (Brazil) – 14.64 points
- Funa Nakayama (Japan) – 14.49 points
- Alexis Sablone (USA) – 13.57 points
- Roos Zwetsloot (Netherlands) – 11.26 points
- Wenhui Zeng (China) – 9.66 points
- Margielyn Didal (Philippines) – 7.52 points
- Aori Nishimura (Japan) – 6.92 points
The next Olympic skateboarding event will be the women’s park skateboarding, where – if you can believe it – 12-year-old Cocona Hiraki will be competing for gold. Tune in on Wednesday August 4 to watch the event live.
Keep up-to-date with our guide to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
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