World Skate Games Italia 2024: Solid Naia Laso first through to women’s park skateboarding final
The 15-year-old Spaniard led eight finalists - four Japanese - into Sunday's final showdown at The Spot skatepark in Ostia, Rome.
Skateboarding
Naia Laso continued her strong run of form to qualify top in the women's park skateboarding semi-final at the World Skate Games Italia 2024 in Ostia on Sunday 21 September.
After opening with an 84.70 run, the 15-year-old Spaniard found room for improvement to lift her score to 88.21 on her second attempt and clinch first place for the final, with action streaming live on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com and the official Olympics app for mobile devices (in select territories).
Reigning world silver medallist Kusaki Hinano nipped at Laso's heels throughout the three runs but ultimately finished in second place after her best showing amounted to an 86.82 score. That gave her a three-point buffer over Sugawara Mei, who qualified in third place.
As has been the story throughout the park and street skateboarding events at the World Skate Games, Japan continues to show itself as a world leader in producing talent.
Four of Sunday's women's finalists will be Japanese, with freshly minted world vert medallists Hasegawa Mizuho and Kaihara Asahi, joining Kusaki and Sugawara in the final after booking their places in the final in fourth and sixth. Brazil's Raicca Ventura finished in fifth.
With some notable absentees opting to skip the world championship event in Ostia, fresher faces were invited to step up and two skaters have earned their first-ever World Skate final berths as a result.
Sixteen-year-old Briton Lilly Strachan and 14-year-old Nana Taboulet of France made statement displays in heat one to complete the field for the last eight.
The park action will continue with the men's semi-final on Saturday evening in Italy, also available to stream live on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com and the official Olympics app.
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World Skate Games Italia 2024: Women's park skateboarding semi-finals
The top eight advanced to final
Best run score in three attempts.
- Naia Laso (ESP) - 88.21
- Kusaki Hinano (JPN) - 86.82
- Sugawara Mei (JPN) - 83.26
- Hasegawa Mizuho (JPN) - 83.10
- Raicca Ventura (BRA) - 82.92
- Kaihara Asahi (JPN) - 82.50
- Nana Taboulet (FRA) - 80.67
- Lilly Strachan (GBR) - 80.31
- Lola Tambling (GBR) - 80.04
- Julia Benedetti (ESP) - 77.28
- Jordan Santana (USA) - 74.49
- Fernanda Tonissi (BRA) - 73.75
- Yndiara Asp (BRA) - 71.55
- Lin Yi-fan (TPE) - 70.85
- Fay Ebert (CAN) - 63.00
- Li Yujuan (CHN) - 61.17
How to watch park skateboarding at World Skate Games Italia 2024
The semi-finals and finals of the park skateboarding event at the World Skate Games Italia 2024 will be available to stream live on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com and the official Olympics app for mobile devices.
The are restrictions in place for the following territories: Japan, People's Republic of China, Brazil, Hong Kong, China, Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Ireland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye, Ukraine and United Kingdom.