You have to say: the evolution of the Street format in World Skate contests has certainly upped the drama potential in one major way- it has created a massive cliff face to be overcome right at the start of each contest.
Here in Paris today, during Men’s Street Prelims, an alarming number of established names struggled with their first runs. Was it the sheer weight of the world watching? Possibly. What we can say for sure, though, is that it meant the second runs themselves became a cliffhanger before a single Best Trick went down.
Why? Because, simply put, the standard is so high these days that nobody is likely to progress going into a Best Trick section 10 points off the pace unless everybody has a similar dilemma. While that turn of events is of course possible- even with one Japanese skater in the running- the presence of more than one Japanese skater means that it is nigh-on impossible to win outright or even progress through Prelim rounds without putting down a solid run.
The knife-edge before the knife-edge, you might say. With four Prelim heats and a Finals going down on the same day, that is ten guaranteed knife-edge scenarios for the crowd to enjoy. The tension was absolutely nerve-shredding and the pressure never let up.
The evening’s final in Place de la Concorde, the 2024 Olympic Games was the greatest Street Skateboarding contest ever, bar none.
Japan’s Yuto Horigome, who almost didn’t make the Paris Games at all after a mid- qualifier slump, staged the comeback of his life to retain the title of Olympic gold medallist in a Best Trick shootout that pulsated with energy and thrills under azure skies and soaring French temperatures.
The greatest redemption story in the history of skateboarding was fraught with tension, however, as the lead changed hands almost every minute.
In second place was America’s Jagger Eaton, who won bronze at Tokyo 2020 and was in gold position until Yuto’s last trick overleap, and the bronze medal went to America’s Nyjah Huston, who himself improved on on his previous 7th place in Tokyo.
