X Games Chiba 2024: Chloe Covell holds off Japanese assault to win second women's street skateboarding gold

Chloe Covell can’t undo the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

So she moves forward, towards LA28, and took her first steps towards those next Olympics with some noise on Saturday (21 September) in Japan.

Covell won the women's street skateboarding final at X Games Chiba 2024, beating out six of her Japanese peers including the newly crowned Olympic champion Yoshizawa Coco.

After a majestic 87.33 on her first run, the 14-year-old Covell held on to the lead for her second career X Games gold, over recent world bronze medallist Ito Miyu (84.00) and Akama Liz (83.00), the Paris 2024 silver medallist.

As she did at the World Skate Games 2024 Italia in Rome, Yoshizawa finished outside the medals, languishing to fourth place.

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While there’s no turning back the clock, Covell managed to ease the disappointment of finishing last in the eight-woman final in Paris in her Olympic debut.

“Definitely like getting a win after things didn't turn out very well in Paris,” the Australian said. “It’s definitely a great feeling.

“I just want to keep practicing, not giving up and just get more harder tricks that I can get consistently and pull out in LA.”

Covell said with the Japanese women so rich in talent - and these X Games were without former Olympic and world champions Nishiya Momiji and Oda Yumeka, respectively - competing in Japan is a true test for any skater.

“The girls are so good now, women's skating has blown out of the park. All the girls we're just showing how far it can really be pushed,” Covell said.

Yoshizawa, with a far bigger media following now compared to before the Olympics, was unable to improve on her first run of 82.66 as she was leapfrogged by Akama for bronze.

Yoshizawa admitted she was not 100 per cent after contests in consecutive weeks on different continents.

“I’ve barely had time to rest since coming home,” she said. “I just tried to be as well as I could for this.

“Having a competition as big as the X Games in Japan is special so I wanted to win it and go out with a smile on my face.”