I’ll tell you what: they’re a lively bunch, the Brazilian skateboarding audience.

Despite today’s Semifinals here in Brazil being unsettled by some insanely changeable weather (Men’s Street had to be postponed halfway through due to high winds, Women’s Park was off because of rain), the crowd were by some distance the loudest on the World Skateboarding Tour to date.

The action started early today with Women’s Street and the hero of Heat 1 was Gabi Mazetto, whose perfect second run brought raptures from the full house enjoying the morning sunshine. As the wheels hit the ground on her Frontside Feeblegrind, the crowd erupted and the tempo for the day was set.

Also doing commendably was Thailand’s Vareeraya Sukasem, who finished just outside the Finals cut, but still posted her best-ever WST result in a Heat which saw China’s Yuanling Zhu leading by the halfway point. Japan’s Mei Ozeki was unfortunate in both of her Runs and was all but out of contention come Best Trick, but still managed to land an outrageous Kickflip Backside 50-50 on the gap to Hubba ledge first try, and nearly improved on that to 5-0 subsequently.

Like Gabi she, too, missed the cut- but her pace of improvement is a sign of things to come.

Of the four Japanese women to finish north of the 129-point border between progressing and spectating tomorrow, Funa Nakayama enjoyed a welcome return to consistent form and looks back to her best.

Ibuki Matsumoto was already certain to proceed by the end of the first round of Best Trick with a Kickflip Frontside Boardslide but added a Kickflip Backside Lipslide on the A-frame rail with her last for good measure. Special mentions, however, must go to the low-key assassin Coco Yoshizawa who had two full runs just as she did during Quarterfinals and goes into tomorrow’s Finals in first place- and Nanami Onishi for a particular feat.

Today, that diminutive ball of energy delivered the first-ever complete Street performance in the history of the World Skateboarding Tour. Two full runs and three landed Best Tricks is an achievement which had never been done up until now, so we should give her a special acknowledgement here.

We look forward to seeing her in tomorrow’s final, alongside France’s Lucie Schoonheere who also crossed a rubicon in making it into her first WST Sunday.

Star of the show, though, is of course Rayssa Leal. 11 points in the lead coming out of the Run section, she only needed a comparatively safe Best Trick to breeze into the finals but tried to wallop a massive 360 flip with her last go having already booked her slot, just for the people. Until you see the adulation she garners firsthand it is hard to comprehend just how much of a star she is in this country, but she carries it with grace and charm.

The only other Semifinal which the weather allowed us to run today was Men’s Park, which saw a superb performance from Portugal’s Thomas Augusto, who also holds a Brazilian passport and is treated like a local. He, alongside actual local Dan Sabino lay just outside the cut, as did alongside the much-loved Pedro Quintas and Luiz Mariano, who was battling to make the cut when he stumbled on a Backside Tailslide on the flat bank and slammed hard enough to require medical assistance to exit the bowl. We wish him a full and quick recovery because he was fantastic throughout the week up to now.

Also feeling the force of impact was Spain’s Egoitz Bijueska who soldiered back from being levelled by Dan Sabino’s shoulder during warm-ups to storm back into third just ahead of the superb Australian Keegan Palmer who only missed out on a three-full-run sweep by mixing up his last trick of the last run purely for his own entertainment. He is the definition of elite at this level, though, and it would be a surprise indeed if he and maestro USA’s Tom Schaar aren’t on two of the podium spots come tomorrow night.

Notably, all three of the Americans who made semifinals are through to tomorrow while only two of the six Brazilians who did likewise can say the same. We should dap up Taylor Nye at this juncture for being one of those three in his first ever WST finals and commiserate with Japan’s Yuro Nagahara who the Brazilians have all but adopted as one of their own and is yet to find a skatepark which can contain his burly freight train of an approach. Could he play safe and qualify by doing less? Probably, but it’s not in his nature to go anything less than full-bore, and that’s why the Brazilians and the WST love him.

Fittingly, Brazil took the two top spots: Luigi Cini went from last place after Run 1 to first with a perfectly-measured and creatively-varied run while Florianopolis’ Kalani Konig has been the best Brazilian in his discipline throughout this week and may yet steal the crown tomorrow.

As we mentioned at the top, Women’s Park and Men’s Street Semifinals had to be re-scheduled until tomorrow morning- but we’ll bring you that news, then.