The action today began as Canadian newcomer Evie Pritchard drew the short straw in having to drop in first on the opening semifinal and first broadcast action from WST Kitakyushu. Understandably nervous, she had to wait until her second run to make everything gel for her and while she added her second best trick attempt to her tally it was not enough to carry her through to finals. Nonetheless, an assured WST debut and Canada have dealt themselves back into Women’s Street with her.

Equally nervous in her first WST semifinals was Czech ripper Laura Zackova who struggled with speedwobbles on this lightning-fast course. Having missed her first two Best Trick attempts, she made the tactically astute decision to bank a lipslide with her third and again the experience will stand her in good stead for the future.

Funa Nakayama’s day was the tale of two frontside crooked grinds- the first, her initial run opener, she missed alongside the front feeble ender of her second leaving her a mountain to climb in Best Trick but climb it she did with a textbook front crook on the upward out ledge dubbed Big Red by MC Lucy Adams to put her back into the mix.

Spanish duo Daniela Terol and Valentina Krauel were unable to progress due to not completing runs although Daniela made her last Best Trick attempt in the shape of a Back Smith on the hubba ledge.

Momiji Nishiya made both runs and two Best Tricks both within her comfort zone but may rue not throwing caution to the wind as she saw her leaderboard position drop rapidly as 7 of 8 skaters from Heat 2 progressed into finals. The only skater from heat 1 to progress was the energised and fearless 15 year old Nanami Onishi who was also the most improved since we last met in Rome last June. Leading at the end of her heat, she had to wait and watch as Heat 2- noticeably more high-intensity- played out.

Opening proceedings in Heat 2 was Liz Akama, who came out swinging with the first of two full runs both of which paid closer attention to the clock after she ran out of time during quarterfinals. The power of overnight homework at play. Adding two Best Tricks to choose from, she held the lead from the top of round 2 of Best Trick and goes into tomorrow in pole as a result.

Big finals news comes in the fact that only half the field are Japanese as opposed to the anticipated deluge of as many as 7 out of 8. Making up those spots are China’s ultra- impressive switch pioneer Yuanling Zhu (who added a switch frontside 50-50 on the hubba in Best Trick to her perfect opening run and almost made a switch frontside nosegrind on the handrail which has not yet been done by any woman on the WST)- and an ever-improving Chenxi Cui who has kickflip melons on lock and looks hungrier than ever before.

New to the Tour and straight into finals at the first time of asking is Korean 14-year-old Jiyul Shin, who rounded out her second run with a tailslide on the hubba and landed a front blunt shove out on her last Best Trick having already made a kickflip front board to secure a title berth on her second try. A star is born there, mark our words.

Yumeka Oda boxed clever for her 6th place, temporarily leading with her first trick kickflip front board after two perfect runs to choose from. She only held the top spot for two tricks before the prodigiously talented local Ibuki Matsumoto who is clearly a new top-flight contender who wrapped her second run with a kickflip frontside 50-50 on the hubba and then ended the event by doing so on the Big Red upledge feature with the last trick of the day to bring the house down.

The other non-Japanese finalist going through is last stop’s winner Chloe Covell who banked a frontside bluntslide on the handrail for her first Best Trick but couldn’t improve with two backside tailslide shove it attempts on the hubba. While clearly one of the biggest talents in the field, she did not find her pathway open and will have to bring her A-game to the finals if she wants to prevent an Asian podium sweep here!

If Women’s semis were somewhat varied in terms of performance, Men’s was all-in right from the get-go. Potential winners Jake Ilardi and Yuto Horigome could not make their Best Trick sections gel, while the reverse was true for Australia’s Daniel Woolley and Brazil’s Joao Lucas who both put down heavy Best Tricks but broken runs made their progress impossible.

Coming in above those 4 was Britain’s Joe Hinson who came back from a month out injured to post his best-ever WST result of 12th, one better than his 13th at WST Lausanne. Sweden’s Kristoffer Kroon looked more solid than he ever has before, and his late shove it to front board out off the head-height out rail was a show stopper but with the standard as high as it is he remained 6 points off the cut even with a full run.

Birthday boy Taiga Nagai similarly had a sensational best trick in the form of a backside bigspin hurricane, but with a single stumble on his first run he was off the pace by that point.

Mauro Iglesias had a heartbreaker in that he qualified into the semifinals in second place and then needed his final best trick to be in excess of 81 to make his first WST finals since he got 5th in Rome back in 2022. Emulating his teammate Matias Dell Olio’s bigger flip front board which scored that for the big man in Heat 1, he made it but with a a little less conviction and ended an agonising 1.23 off the cut and Matias remained in 8th instead.

Peru’s Deivid Tuesta, who joined the WST as part of Olympic Solidarity’s first Youth Athlete Development intake, nollie flip to back lipped his way into his first ever finals while big Yukito Aoki seems to have shaken off the ghosts of his past and is back to his superb best. His nollie inward heelflip over the hip during his second run was all-time.

Above him lay an indisputable top 4: Brazil’s powerful and inventive Giovanni Vianna with that nailgun pop, Korea’s next-level new-wave glider Juni Kang who made a frontside270 to backside nosebluntslide beyond perfectly for his second best trick, and Kairi Netsuke who posted the highest run score of the day and a heelflip frontside bluntslide for second.

In first, it will surprise nobody to hear, is the guy who came into the semis in that position. The generational talent that is Sora Shirai remains in pole position and it will take something earth-shaking to unseat him.

Join us tomorrow to see if that unfolds or if he really is just too good in too many ways to beat.