Sky Brown through to Olympic Qualifier Series Budapest final as Arisa Trew raises the bar
Australian young gun Trew led the eight skaters through to the final of OQS Budapest with Tokyo 2020 Olympic medallists Brown and Hiraki Kokona in tow.
Skateboarding
The wind from the morning’s thunderstorm was still whipping around the park bowl but not even it could stop Arisa Trew in her element.
The 14-year-old Australian, a world-recorder writer in vert skateboarding, continued to show that in a park bowl, she is no less a prodigious as she made light work qualifying top of the pile with a 92.06 run score in the women’s semi-final of the Olympic Qualifier Series (OQS) Budapest.
Trew herself appeared as surprised as the awed Hungarian crowd as the digits hit the screen confirming her commanding lead.
She was the only skater of the day to breach the 90.00 mark and, ominously for the rest of the field the OQS Shanghai winner did it twice, putting down a 90.20 run on her third attempt.
"I'm really happy I qualified first into finals," the young Australian said clad in her choice electric pink helmet, pink socks and pink board. "I'm really proud of landing my runs because I hadn't landed the whole run yet in the competition so it was really cool."
Trew’s statement semi-final run came after a strong showing by Great Britain's Sky Brown in the women’s park prelims. Britain’s youngest-ever Olympic medallist, who qualified in fourth for tomorrow’s final, impressed once more in Budapest.
Still supporting a cast around her knee due to her recent MCL tear, Brown seemed again to relish the simple joy of being back in the fray after her year-long absence from the Olympic skateboarding contest arena.
"I feel good! To make it to the finals - I'm so stoked," the 15-year-old shared after grinning from ear to ear. "I did this kickflip indy over the box and I haven't done that trick for a bit so it was definitely good to get those back and on my feet again."
While there was joy for some, there were tears for others as the the battle to secure one of the three available NOC quota spots for the Olympic Games Paris 2024 continued to intensify.
Among those who will miss out on the final were Japanese Olympic champion Yosozumi Sakura and US Skaters Minna Stess, Grace Marhoefer and Bryce Wettstein.
The women’s park final will take place on Sunday 23 June.
All the skateboarding action from the Olympic Qualifier Series Budapest is streaming live on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com the official Olympics app for mobile devices. Territorial restrictions may apply.
Olympic Qualifier Series: Women's park semi-final results
The top eight advanced to the final
Best run score of three attempts.
- Arisa Trew (AUS) - 92.06
- Raicca Ventura (BRA) - 88.50
- Hiraki Kokona (JPN) - 87.61
- Sky Brown (GBR) - 87.00
- Hasegawa Mizuho (JPN) - 86.03
- Kusaki Hinano (JPN) - 83.31
- Sirvio Heili (FIN) - 83.00
- Ruby Lilley (USA) - 82.50
- Yosozumi Sakura (JPN) - 82.17
- Bryce Wettstein (USA) - 82.08
- Sugawara Mei (JPN) - 81.07
- Grace Marhoefer (USA) - 80.60
- Minna Stess (USA) - 80.01
- Dora Varella (BRA) - 79.12
- Ruby Trew (AUS)- 68.86
- Yndiara Asp (BRA) - 20.16