WST Street Skateboarding Rome 2023: Liz Akama hits final trick to take women's final - Full results
The 14-year-old Japanese edged out Chloe Covell with Oda Yumeka taking third place ahead of Brazilian star Rayssa Leal.
Skateboarding
Liz Akama nailed her final trick to snatch victory in the women's final at the 2023 WST Street Skateboarding event in Rome on Sunday (25 June).
The 14-year-old Japanese, who had posted the best run in the final, was in second place behind Australia's Chloe Covell but landed a front feeble-front 180 to score 90.07 for a winning total of 263.90 and maximum points in qualification for Paris 2024.
Having finished fourth at both previous Olympic qualifiers, Akama's surge to the top came as a surprise to the young Japanese teen.
"I've never been on the podium," Akama said to Olympics.com afterwards reflecting on the win. "But suddenly, I'm at the top. I'm super happy."
On the final trick that secured her the top podium spot in Rome, the teen skater revealed that a mix of pre-competition training and a growth in confidence laid behind the final moment of magic.
"I've practised not being nervous even in daily training, and underwent intense training on the tricks that I'm good at," Akama continued. "I told myself that I'm definitely going to land it."
And she did.
Covell (261.43) finished the night in second with Oda Yumeka (246.38) taking third place in the Italian capital.
Brazilian star Rayssa Leal had work to do after a lacklustre run and took a heavy fall in the trick section but still managed to finish fourth.
Uemura Aoi had a scary spill in the warm-up between the run and trick sections, but the 13-year-old bravely landed two tricks to end up in sixth place.
Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion Nishiya Momiji was second after the run but could only land one trick from her five attempts and finished in eighth place.