14-year-old Yoshizawa Coco and 15-year-old Akama Liz of Japan have won gold and silver medals, respectively, in the women’s street skateboarding at the Paris Olympics.
In the finals in the Place de la Concorde on Sunday, eight skateboarders performed various techniques during the 45-second “run” stage and one big technique in the “best-trick” stage.
Yoshizawa, ranked top in the world, and Akama, the world’s number two, made it to the top three in the run segment.
In the fourth attempt of the best-trick stage, Yoshizawa marked a high score of 96.49 by successfully pulling off a trick called a “bigspin flip boardslide.” She finished top with a total score of 272.75.
Akama, who flawlessly performed a “frontside 270 boardslide” in the first run of the stage, came in second with a total of 265.95 points.
The other Japanese finalist, 19-year-old Nakayama Funa, finished seventh. She won bronze at the Tokyo Olympics.
Yoshizawa later told reporters that she is grateful to her seniors she had looked up to. She said she now intends to level up her skills.
Akama said she is happy as she had dreamed of winning a medal at the Paris Games. She said she wants to get gold at the next Olympics.