World Street Skateboard Rome 2022: Nakayama Funa tops women's semi-finals with blazing performance
Olympic podium finishers Rayssa Leal and Nishiya Momiji join the Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist in advancing to the final of the first qualification stop for Paris 2024.
Skateboarding
Nakayama Funa showed her superiority again on Saturday (2 July) to lead the top eight advancing to the women's final at World Street Skateboarding Rome.
The bronze medallist from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in 2021 threw down the highest scoring trick of the Paris 2024 Olympic qualifying competition so far - a frontside crooked grind - to emphatically punch her ticket to Sunday's final with an overall score of 252.41, live on Olympic Channel.
Olympic silver medallist Rayssa Leal from Brazil secured her spot in the final in second place (246.47) while the Tokyo 2020 champion Nishiya Momiji finished in fifth (228.22).
Leal was the consummate show-woman at the Parco del Colle Oppio skate park, smiling through her runs and engaging the crowd as she cruised around the course.
After putting her best two tricks down in the first two attempts of her run, the Brazilian used her remaining time to try even more complex tricks - hinting at what is to come tomorrow.
Olympic gold medallist Nishiya will be joined by four of her compatriots in the final as Japan continues to impress with its depth of female skateboarding talent.
Surprise package Yoshizawa Coco, who took her first ever plane ride to make the competition here in Rome, stayed well in touch of her more experienced rivals even under the most intense pressure, while Akama Rizu looked particularly comfortable on the hubbas and rails.
Chloe Covell of Australia rounds off the top eight following a dramatic last-ditch trick. The 12-year-old failed her first two attempts putting pressure on her final three efforts.
But with smart skateboarding and a cool head, the X Games Chiba bronze medallist scraped through behind Pamela Rosa to stay in the race for Olympic ranking points, which will be awarded in Sunday's final.
READ: Chloe Covell: The Australian tween skateboarding upstart setting her sights on the big time
The new scoring system - 2/5/3 - for Paris 2024 came into effect for the semi-finals in Rome.
A skateboarder’s best run out of two is scored from 0 to 100 and is combined with two best tricks out of five also scoring between 0 and 100, making a final score of between 0 and 300.
MORE: How the scoring for skateboarding street will work at Paris 2024
World Street Skateboarding Championships Rome 2022: Women's semi-final results
- Nakayama Funa (JPN)
- Rayssa Leal (BRA)
- Akama Rizu (JPN)
- Yoshizawa Coco (JPN)
- Nishiya Momiji (JPN)
- Oda Yumeka (JPN)
- Pamela Rosa (BRA)
- Chloe Covell (AUS)
The top eight all advance to Sunday's final.
How to watch the first Paris 2024 Olympic street skate finals:
The women's final at the World Skate Street Skateboarding Championships will take place on Sunday 3 July and will be available to stream live on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com.
With no geo-restrictions you can watch all the action from the top men's and women's skateboarders in Rome from anywhere in the world.