Gustavo Ribeiro edges dramatic men's street Super Crown in Rio

Gustavo Ribeiro was in inspired form as the Portuguese skate star soared and spun his way to a huge win in the men's SLS Super Crown Championships at Rio’s Olympic Park on Sunday (6 November).

His show-stopping performance earned him four 9+ scores on the night (on the course and in the single-trick portion) -- and it was just enough to edge out American Street League rookie Braden Hoban in the four-man super final.

Ribeiro-Hoban showdown

The 21-year-old Hoban, of Encinitas, California, looked to have done enough to win the trophy with his ollie-impossible-to-50-50-grind down the hubba that earned a score of 9.1 with his final trick.

But Ribeiro, who came into the final round as this season’s points leader, had other ideas. The final trick of a throw-down night saw him land a glorious front-nosegrind-nollie-flip-out (9.3) that had the Brazilian fans on their feet and in hysterics.

“I don’t know what was going on really,” said Ribeiro after picking up his first SLS Super Crown Championship. “ I was feeling so much pressure and I was just trying to relax and put my mind in a comfortable place. I’ve been practicing that trick for a while...

“It’s a moment I can’t even believe,” he added after a thriller of a final round. “This means all the hard work I put in has made me a world champion. This can happen if you focus on your dreams and believe in yourself.”

Chris Joslin of the United States finished in third place with some muscular backside bigflips seeing him match his best-ever previous street league finish.

American superstar Nyjah Huston missed out the competition as the 2020 Olympian is still recovering from knee surgery after suffering torn ligaments. But his fellow North Americans, Hoban (who had the night's highest-scored trick with a 9.6) and Joslin (both of Team USA) and Canada’s Ryan Decenzo, all gave good account by reaching the super final top four.

Peerless Leal sweeps 2022 street season

Earlier on Sunday, the Rio crowd was treated to a thriller of a women’s final that saw 14-year-old hometown hero Rayssa Leal win her first SLS Super Crown.

The young Brazilian, who won silver at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and gold at this year’s X Games in Chiba, sealed a clean sweep of all four 2022 SLS events as she raises the bar on the women's side of the street skating scene.

She brought the house down with a final huge gap-out-back-smith grind that saw Japanese skaters Nakayama Funa of Japan (20.8) second and Nishiya Momiji (19.2) in third at some distance.