Olympic Qualifier Series Shanghai Day 3 wrap-up: China dominate BMX Freestyle Park and sport climbing speed finals, double delight for Jagger Eaton
Check out the highlights and key moments from Day 3 of the OQS Shanghai on 18 May, which included BMX Freestyle Park and sport climbing speed finals, skateboarding semi-finals, and breaking.
The People's Republic of China dominated Day 3 of the Olympic Qualifier Series Shanghai on Saturday (18 May), with a full podium in the BMX Freestyle Park women's final, and victory in the sport climbing women's speed final.
Sun Sibei, Sun Jiaqi and Deng Yawen, finished first, second, and third respectively to send the packed arena wild with joy.
Tokyo 2020 silver medallist and reigning world champion Hannah Roberts of the USA finished fourth, while Olympic champion Charlotte Worthington of Great Britain ended the contest in 12th.
Next up in the men's final, France's Anthony Jeanjean ignored the energy-sapping midday heat to land first place with a superb first run score of 93.54.
Olympic champion Logan Martin of Australia found his form in the second run to seal second while Team GB's reigning world champion Kieran Reilly was third.
Sport climbing qualification - OQS Shanghai
The day's other finals action took place in the sport climbing arena for the men's and women's speed finals.
Indonesia’s Veddriq Leonardo shattered the Asian men's record several times, eventually finishing with 4.83 seconds in a victorious final effort over world No.1 Wu Peng.
Wu and Leonardo were the only two athletes to consistently go under the five-second mark, and were neck-and-neck in the final with Wu touching the board in 4.88 seconds on home soil.
Wu's 18-year-old compatriot Wang Xinshang wrapped up the top three with a hard-fought win over Ukraine’s Yaroslav Tkach.
The women’s final brought more happiness to the local fans as Zhou Yafei touched the top in 6.54 seconds ahead of Indonesia’s Rajiah Sallsabillah.
Asian Games bronze medallist Sallsabillah was ninth in qualifying, but exceeded expectations on the final with a few near shaves – including beating world No.2 Natalia Kalucka by one hundredth of a second in the semi-finals.
Poland's Kalucka rebounded with victory in the small final over China’s Niu Di.
Eaton progresses, Shirai out in skateboarding
Over in skateboarding, dual-threat Jagger Eaton continued his impressive run of form by qualifying in first for the men's street final.
The 23-year-old U.S. star put down a 91.24 run before scoring a 93.49 and 92.43 in his first two trick attempts.
Qualifying in second and third were Portugal’s Gustavo Ribeiro and Eaton’s team-mate Nyjah Huston, popular amongst the packed out stands watching the very best skaters at work.
In all, three U.S. skaters made the cut with Chris Joslin doing enough in the first heat to secure his place in fourth. They were matched only in number by Japan who saw Onodera Ginwoo, Sasaki Toa and top qualifier from the prelims, Netsuke Kairi.
One notable Japanese name that failed to qualify was world champion Shirai Sora who only put down one trick in five attempts.
Chloe Covell showed class and composure to qualify first in the women's semis.
The 14-year-old Australian posted the second-highest run score and highest trick score of the night to earn a combined score of 259.99.
While there was also joy for Japan with Akama Liz, and for Yoshizawa Coco (third) and Nakayama Funa (fifth), OQS delivered another shock blow.
Olympic champion Nishiya Momiji finished just outside the cut in ninth place after struggling in the run section.
In the men's park competition, Olympic champion Keegan Palmer scored 87.49 with his third run to qualify first for the final.
Qualifying in second was USA’s Tate Carew, who was one of three Americans to make the final.
The others were world champion Gavin Bottger and Jagger Eaton, who, less than two hours after qualifying in first place for the men’s street final, fell on his first two park runs before producing an 81.49 on the third to qualify in sixth place.
Completing the final eight are Brazilian trio Luigi Cini, Pedro Barros and Augusto Akio, and Australian Kieran Woolley, while Keefer Wilson failed to make the cut.
In women's park, Japanese 13-year-old Hasegawa Mizuho took top spot in the semis courtesy of her commanding 84.04 second run.
Qualifying in second and third for tomorrow’s final were Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Hiraki Kokona and Australian star Arisa Trew.
They will be joined in the final by Japan's Yosozumi Sakura, Australian Ruby Trew, Brazilians Isadora Pacheco and Varella, and USA's Bryce Wettstein.
Japan's B-Boys and B-Girls dominated on Day 1 of the breaking competitions with all five advancing to finals days. All of the country's athletes received unanimous votes from the judges with the exception of B-Boy Issin. The national champion dominated his battle against Great Brtain's B-Boy Sheku but still lost three out of the 18 judges votes.
Chinese athletes also had a strong showing with B-Girls Yingzi and Ziyan, and B-Boy Lithe-ing advancing while NBA and China basketball legend Yao Ming looked on from the crowd.
Also among the 32 qualifiers for tomorrow's Round Robin are B-Girls Syssy and Senorita Carlota of France, Team USA's B-Girl Logistx and B-Boys Jeffro and Gravity, and Ukranian B-Girls Stefani and Kate, and B-Boys Lussy Sky and Kuzya.
China's B-Boy Lithe-ing competes at the Olympic Qualifier Series in Shanghai.
A total of 464 athletes (including 81 Olympians and 7 Olympic champions) are competing at OQS Shanghai across the four sports, with a 50-50 split between men and women.
The two Olympic Qualifier Series events, in Shanghai and Budapest respectively, wcelebrate of sport and culture, with music, fashion and art combining with sports competition to create a festival experience.
As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective teams at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at Paris 2024 depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation. Click here to view the qualification system for each sport.
You can watch the Olympic Qualifier Series (OQS) in Shanghai from 16 to 19 May live on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com and the official Olympics app for mobile devices.
