Sky Brown fights to keep best friend's spot at Paris 2024, while Arisa Trew sweeps women's park at Olympic Qualifier Series
Australia's 14-year-old Trew produced a superb second run to win the women's park contest at the Olympic Qualifier Series in Budapest ahead of Tokyo 2020 Olympic medallists Brown and Hiraki Kokona.
Skateboarding
Sky Brown had no pressing personal reasons to get on the podium in the women's park final at the Olympic Qualifier Series (OQS) in Budapest.
The British skateboarding star had already secured her ticket to Paris 2024* and was still recovering from an MCL injury, which had kept her out of last month’s OQS edition in Shanghai. But as the Olympic destiny of her best friend Yosozumi Sakura depended on her third and final run, Brown strapped on her knee brace tighter, dropped in and held nothing back.
The Tokyo 2020 champion Yosozumi missed the final in Budapest by one spot and would be out of the Paris 2024 Games if her Japanese teammate Hasegawa Mizuho managed to finish first or second in Budapest. This result would give Hasegawa the necessary points to overtake her teammate in the overall standings.
Hasegawa was sitting fifth after her second run on Sunday (23 June), but a stellar performance in the third boosted her to second place. Thrilled with her score of 91.58, the 13-year-old raised her fist in the air in celebration.
Brown was set to go next and knew what she had to do.
Picking up speed and taking risks, the Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist delivered a series of tricks some of which she had not executed in a year to earn 91.93 points, putting herself second behind Australia's Arisa Trew and bumping Hasegawa to third place.
As she came out of the bowl, Brown covered her face to hide the emotions of having accomplished her mission.
"I had to do it for Sakura," Brown said. "It was definitely very emotional. I looked at (Yosozumi) before I went and I saw her and I knew I had to do it for her. I had to get in the top one or two and I did it, so I'm so thankful that she's coming with me, another round of Olympics. It was definitely a very special moment and she really put a fire in me to get those tricks."
Brown and Yosozumi hope to be headed to their second Olympic Games together, which Brown said makes her even more excited about the competition.
"I don't know what I would do without her, honestly. She's like my sister," Brown said. "She's at every event I go to and we just have the best time, not just skating, but enjoying the places we get to go to through skateboarding. And the Olympics, we have the best time there and just having a friendly face there and being on the podium with her and doing all of this with her, is so special and I don't want it to end. I don't ever want it to end."
*As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.
Click here to see the official qualification system for each sport.
Hasegawa to miss Paris 2024
Hasegawa was the first person to run to Brown after the British skater completed her third run. It was not until a few minutes later that the realisation of what Brown's high score meant for her seemed to truly sink in.
"I was disappointed about that,” Hasegawa said later about missing out on Paris 2024. "But I’m happy I did well until the end and also, it was better than in Shanghai."
Slumped in her seat on the sidelines of the park bowl, Hasegawa greeted teammates and fellow skaters as they came to console her and offer encouraging words. Sky Brown, for one, was full of praise for the Japanese youngster.
"Mizuho, she's amazing. She's actually really incredible. It definitely sucks for her to not make it but she should be definitely proud of her skating. She's amazing," Brown said.
"I felt bad, but it was for Sakura and I'm glad I did it."
Arisa Trew sweeps women's park at Olympic Qualifier Series
While Sky Brown and Yosozumi Sakura's emotional show of friendship played out on the sidelines, it was Arisa Trew who took the spotlight in the bowl.
The Australian teen improved on her winning score from Shanghai to win both Olympic Qualifier Series events.
She put down a fairly conservative first run to place herself in the Top 5, and then went all out on her next runs, blasting to the top with a score of 93.38. Brown finished second and Japan's Hiraki Kokona was third with 91.83.
"I didn't really care about the podium. I just wanted to make it into the final, which I did and then from there I didn't really mind how I went because I knew I was in a pretty good spot for the Olympics, and that's all that matters," Trew said. "But it was just crazy that I also won this one and I was just so, so happy."
Trew is now set to make her Olympic debut if selected by the Australian NOC.
"I'm just going to improve on everything," she said of what she will be working on over the next few weeks before the Games kick off. "I want to work on my grind. My fire, speed, everything, consistency, and I'm just going to keep pushing myself to get better and better.
"When people see me in Paris I want them to recognise me because of my skating and my 540s and my pink helmet, and just me being me."
Olympic Qualifier Series: Women's park final results
Best run score of three attempts.
- Arisa Trew (AUS) - 93.38
- Sky Brown (GBR) - 91.93
- Hiraki Kokona (JPN) - 91.83
- Hasegawa Mizuho (JPN) - 91.58
- Kusaki Hinano (JPN) - 89.60
- Raicca Ventura (BRA) - 85.93
- Sirvio Heili (FIN) - 82.68
- Ruby Lilley (USA) - 82.00
How to watch all the Olympic Qualifier Series action from Budapest
The action from Budapest will be streamed live, for free, and without subscription to a worldwide audience on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com and the official Olympics app for Paris 2024.
You can also catch up on the latest news, features, reports and updates from the ground with daily articles on Olympics.com.