Rayssa Leal wins women's street by a dramatic 0.54 points at Olympic Qualifier Series Shanghai
Brazil's Rayssa Leal and Japan's Akama Liz got a major boost on their pathway to Paris 2024, while nerves got the best of top qualifier Chloe Covell who missed all five tricks.
Skateboarding
The women’s street final was decided by the narrowest of margins as Brazil’s Rayssa Leal and Japan’s Akama Liz finished the competition just 0.54 points apart at the Olympic Qualifier Series (OQS) in Shanghai, People's Republic of China on Sunday (19 May).
Leal took the lead after the run section and spread out her arms in celebration – and relief – as she completed her final trick to put a total of 274.89 points on the scoreboard. But as she sat on the sidelines later, waiting for the next score from her nearest competitor Akama, it was clear that the Olympic silver medallist felt far from assured about her top finish.
"That trick is hard. I tried it once but I couldn’t do it," Leal said of Akama's last attempt. "To do that on a down rail? I can’t even imagine it.”
Akama had saved the best for last on both her run and trick section, dropping two scores in the 90s after missing her second and third tricks. Her fourth trick was the highest-scoring of the day with 92.55 points, which boosted the Japanese skater up to second place.
Her fifth collected the third-highest score, but at 91.69, was just short of surpassing Leal for top position.
“During the tricks and the last minutes of the competition, I was very nervous," Akama said. “I tried to remember the words of good luck that my friends and my family told me. I also told myself that I just really wanted to do this. That also helped me to feel stronger.”
In contrast to her teammate Akama, Yoshizawa Coco put up her best scores early on. She got the nerves out of the way with two solid tricks to start, the hurricane on her second trick sealing the Japanese a third-place finish with a total of 257.73 points.
“(I) try not to think about beating others, but try and think about beating myself," Yoshizawa later shared about the way she kept the nerves down. “The best way to beat the pressure is just to visualise the best trick I can do. Doing that makes me super confident that I’ll be able to make the trick."
While Yoshizawa already had the scores to stay calm even after missing her last three tricks, that was not the case for Australia’s Chloe Covell who got visibly rattled in the trick section.
Qualifying in first, Covell’s troubles began on her second run where she crashed out with 13.40 points. The pressure was now on for her to deliver at least two high-scoring tricks in the next section.
She went straight for those big tricks, but failed to land them, getting more emotional with each missed opportunity.
The third attempt saw Covell return to the start and re-attempt the entry, only to see another 0.00 flash up on the board. The pressure was now even higher and the Australian looked nervous, covering her face on the side-lines.
After missing the landing on the fourth trick, Covell knew she was out of contention while fellow competitor and close friend Leal rushed to console her.
Meanwhile, USA’s Poe Pinson was thrilled to collect valuable points heading into the next Olympic Qualifier Series stage in Budapest, Hungary (20-23 June). Dealing with multiple injuries in recent months, the skater had a rough shake-up in the fourth trick after missing a re-start opportunity and ended up getting scored 5.08.
She rallied on her final attempt, however, landing a big trick that boosted her into fourth place.
Cui Chenxi was also impressive on her runs.
Heavily bandaged and with dragons on her knee pads, the young Chinese skater was fearless with her attempts at the Shanghai Urban Park. She pulled out a never-before-done trick on her first try that had the judges scratching their heads and finally awarding 85.51.
After hovering in third place after her fourth trick, Cui ultimately dropped down to finish in fifth with 247.44 points.
Olympic Qualifier Series: Women's street final results
Best run score and best two trick scores
- Rayssa Leal – 274.89
- Akama Liz – 274.35
- Yoshizawa Coco – 257.73
- Poe Pinson – 254.06
- Cui Chenxi – 247.44
- Nakayama Funa – 165.86
- Zeng Wenhui – 164.74
- Chloe Covell – 87.34
How to watch park skateboarding at the Olympic Qualifier Series?
All the skateboarding action from the Olympic Qualifier Series Shanghai was streaming live on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com the official Olympics app for mobile devices. Check back to these platforms to watch the re-plays and highlights from the events.