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Japan sweeps men & women’s street skateboarding at the Tokyo Olympics 2021

The first two gold medals in the history of skateboarding were awarded to hometown heroes

LiFTED | Marcus Aurelius | 26 Jul 2021


Skateboarding history has been made in an awe-inspiring way. Japan’s Yuto Horigome and Momiji Nishiya won the first-ever men and women’s skateboarding street gold medals on July 25 and 26. With blazing temperatures at the Ariake Urban Sports Park, both skateboarders pulled out victories for Japan. Sadly, Japanese crowds were not allowed in the venue to cheer on the hometown heroes because of COVID-19 protocols.

Yuto Horigome was ranked number two in the world before the Tokyo Olympics, and his runs were not perfect. Yuto qualified for the finals in sixth place, and even fell in his first run in the final round. Luckily, in the tricks section of the finals, Yuto got three scores over 9.0 and won the event. He was joined on the podium by Brazil’s Kelvin Hoefler in second place as well as Jagger Eaton in third place.

Thirteen-year-old Momiji Nishiya started off July 26 as the youngest contestant at the Tokyo Olympics 2021. She finished the day as the youngest gold medalist as she won the women’s street skateboarding gold medal. Her countrywoman, 16-year-old Funa Nakayama took the bronze medal and another 13-year-old, Rayssa Leal, won a silver medal.

Overall, skateboarding’s debut in the Olympics was an astounding success with everyone happy to see the Japanese skaters win their categories.