What a difference a day makes.

As you may already be aware, Paris suffered an unseasonal downpour for twelve hours straight which pushed the Men’s Street contest back 48 hours meaning that it was the Women who would kick things off here as the long and winding road to Paris 2024 brings us to right here, right now.

When the dust settled, a 14-year old Japanese skateboarder with no major sponsorship swept aside all before her in Paris this evening to become the new Olympic champion in Women’s Street Skateboarding.

Coco Yoshizawa from Kanagawa won top honours after holding off a spirited challenge from 15-year-old compatriot Liz Akama who briefly took the reins from Coco before having to settle for silver when the new champion pulled her first ever competitive bigspin kickflip frontside boardslide on a handrail to retake the lead and gold with a single Best Trick still to spare.

In bronze came 16-year-old Brazilian star Rayssa Leal, who was 13 points off the pace at the end of the Run section but brought the large and vociferous Brazil contingent in the packed stadium in Place de la Concorde to fever pitch with a comeback of her own.

Coco, who has competed at every stop on the Road To Paris, only won her first contest at the final leg of the Olympic Qualifier Series in Budapest last month. Having qualified in first through the preliminary stage of today’s event at a relative stroll, she was the outright leader by the end of the first round of Runs in the final before getting a scare from a resurgent Liz Akama.

So: an explosive start to the biggest skateboard contest of all time.

World Skate will continue to deliver throughout until we wrap on August 7th. Don't go anywhere!