Drawing the short straw weather-wise and dropping in under soaring daytime temperatures came the Women first on Saturday, with for the first time three Spanish skateboarders making up the total European representation within the top sixteen semifinalists.

The biggest shock of Women’s semifinals is that for the first time on the World Skateboarding Tour, number-one-ranked Rayssa Leal has failed to make the final 8 to skate on Sunday.

Not only that, there is no Brazilian representation whatsoever in the Women’s finals this time around, a fact which reverberated around the Parco Colle Oppio when the realisation took hold.

Also missing the cut but only just was the hugely entertaining Japanese teenager Nanami Onishi who’s infectious enthusiasm endeared her to the crowd as she gamely attempted to emulate Chloe Covell’s pioneering 50-50 to kickflip out during Best Trick. Qualifying for Sunday just above her and marking not just her but Spain’s first- ever Women’s Street finals on the WST was Daniela Terol, who is already assuming a leadership position within her team. Fun fact1: she has also entered Park for Spain in the past and that all-round ability was the difference which saw her go through.

The fact that five Japanese skaters will appear on Sunday comes as no real surprise, but the order in which they qualified may: Tokyo Olympic medallists Momiji Nishiya and Funa Nakayama sandwiched 2023 World Champion Yumeka Oda in positions 5,6 and 7 while Paris Gold medallist Coco Yoshizawa sailed through in third and powerful newcomer Ibuki Matsumoto came second in only her third WST appearance.

In pole position and looking for all the world like having shaken off a disappointing end to 2024 for her, Australian star Chloe Covell posted not just the best Run score but the two highest Best Trick scores too- including the first 90+ score of WST Rome at that point.

Fun fact 2: despite the new format containing 3 Best Trick attempts instead of previous 5, nobody in Women’s made all their tries- meaning Jhancarlos Gonzalez’ 5 of 5 from Sharjah 2022 still stands!

Making amends for Brazil in Men’s Street was 71st- ranked Ivan Monteiro, who seems to have made a full recovery from his arm break which put him out for the longest time. His reaction could be heard around the park long after his Heat had ended.

Interestingly, it was the aspect of the format which hadn’t changed- the 45-second Run section- which gave many of the Men the most trouble, and after a largely indifferent phase of the contest had concluded it required Japan’s Kairi Netsuke to set down an early marker in Best Trick for the evening to get sparked. His heelflip back tail bigspin out which he had first tried (unsuccessfully) in Lausanne back in 2023 was perfect first try and the by now close-to-capacity crowd responded in kind, and it was on from there.

Daiki Ikeda, younger brother of Japanese top boy Daisuke, and heavy hitter in his own right, had a night to forget from a results perspective- but still thrilled the crowd with his gung- ho approach and blasted hardflips.

Heat two in Men’s brought through the contest veterans, however, and while it will surprise no-one that Sora Shirai sailed through in first, because he’s from another planet- it wasn’t all plain sailing further down the leaderboard.

Behind him came two-time Olympic gold medallist Yuto Horigome who, while still not at his dominating best has enough natural buttery ability to coast through in 4th gear. Finding 5th has been his challenge on the WST, though. The most impressive of the lot in Semis, though, was the powerful and unorthodox Brazilian Gio Vianna who, alongside France’s Vincent Milou, is the guy you kind of hope it all gels for sometime.

With the only two 90+ Best Trick scores and the highest overall Best Trick score of the day at a whopping 94.59, maybe sometime for him is now.

(That Best Trick, incidentally, was a caballerial fakie nosegrind, the same trick that won Toa Sasaki the World Championship on the same hubba 10 months ago)

Staying with Vincent Milou, he went into Best Trick sitting on a respectable if not earth-shattering 80 Run score and the decided to go all-in on a switch flip back lip which would have exploded the scoreboard but from a tactical perspective one of his signature flip lips or even a flip tailslide would have been enough to see him through. Instead, we are all once again left to ponder what might have been for the guy everybody loves.

On the subject of derailed storylines, South Korea’s Juni Kang had a debut fairytale in the palm of his hand all week only to land zip in Best Trick against all expectations. Nonetheless, like Daiki Ikeda, he only needs to be lucky once.