The future is now: Japan stoked for Horigome Yuto
Japanese skateboarding is in the good hands of the Tokyo 2020 and X Games gold medallist who is just getting started on his path towards greatness.
Skateboarding
If anyone needed any proof of the impact the Olympic Games had on skateboarding, they had to look no further than last month’s X Games Chiba.
On 24 April despite the rain at Chiba Marine Stadium out on Tokyo Bay, a crowd of 17,000 turned out to watch Horigome Yuto and the other local stars for the final day of the first X Games to ever be held in Japan.
The 23-year-old, who was crowned street skateboarding’s inaugural Olympic champion in Tokyo, dominated the competition with a couple of new tricks in a rain-shortened final to win his second gold.
His peers bowed before him. Horigome was, without question, the life of the party.
"I’m really, genuinely stoked", said Horigome, born and bred in Tokyo and currently based in Los Angeles.
"It was my first competition after the Olympics and it was the first X Games in Japan. I was nervous for sure.
"So many fans came out. I never imagined this. I think it’s proof skateboarding is catching fire in Japan.
"I’m just glad I skated well enough to return all the love".
Horigome: The summer answer to Hirano Ayumu
At X Games Chiba, Japanese fans had the opportunity to witness first-hand skateboarding for the first time after the pandemic prevented them from watching the sport's Olympic debut last summer at Tokyo 2020.
And they wildly supported the world’s best action-sports athletes over three days, many of them Olympic medallists.
If the gold won last summer shot Horigome to national stardom and the Japanese mainstream, the X Games title is turning him into a bona fide brand.
Horigome has since been showered with endorsement deals, spending time with rapper Lil Wayne and Japanese MMA star Nasukawa Tenshin.
With his J-Pop looks and a boy-next-door demeanor, Horigome is fast becoming the summer answer to snowboard’s Olympic gold medal-winning superstar and part-time park skateboarder, Hirano Ayumu - who was on hand in Chiba to root for his good friend.
"Horigome’s annoying but he definitely is the greatest", said Horigome’s pal and Tokyo Olympian Shirai Sora.
The weight of a nation
Yet Horigome is not just an icon for skateboarding in Japan. Behind all the titles and the fashion statements, there seems to be an authentic desire to make the sport more popular.
Horigome will not be on his own though. At the X Games, the Japanese riders swept the podium in the men’s street and women’s park. At Tokyo 2020, they claimed five of the 12 medals on offer including three golds.
Horigome’s fellow X Games and Olympic champion Yosozumi Sakura feels the future is bright for Japan.
When asked if skateboard’s inclusion in the Olympic programme has made a difference for the sport, she said, "I think so.
"I’m seeing a lot more people at skate parks or taking lessons at schools now. We’re talking new people, not the ones who are already here”.
For Horigome, he is now living the dream he had as a child. And he doesn’t plan on waking up anytime soon - at least not until Paris 2024.
"It’s a miracle the X Games were held in Japan", he said, dangling his new gold medal around his neck.
"It was my dream competition as a kid, watched it all the time on TV. For that event to come to Japan and for me to win it, it’s incredible.
"Japanese skateboarders are on the rise, among the world’s best. I need to keep up, can’t get complacent.
"The Olympics is two years away and I want to keep working towards that".