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TOKYO — Nyjah Huston, the gold medal favorite and the biggest name in skateboarding at these Olympics, rolled dramatically into the final of the men’s street event on Sunday, putting together two solid runs and two big tricks after two big falls to advance to the final eight.
His combined score put him third overall after three heats, but that ranking will not matter in the eight-man final, when the preliminary scores are erased.
Yuto Horigome of Japan, the son of a Tokyo taxi driver and Huston’s biggest rival, calmly laid down two solid runs and several world-class tricks to assure himself a spot in the final, too.
Huston and Horigome will be joined in the final by a diverse mix of other skaters, including Jagger Eaton of the United States and Vincent Milou and Aurelien Giraud, both of France.
Each athlete performed two timed runs through the skate park, hustling through their own path over the rails, bumps and ledges. They then took turns trying five tricks of their choosing. A panel of judges scored each run and trick — seven scores in all — on a 10-point scale. The best four scores were added together.
The midmorning temperature was about 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and with the humidity it felt more like 100. It was searing and swampy, and getting warmer. Shade was almost nonexistent.
As with most skate contests, there was music and an upbeat announcer. But there was no crowd, of course, other than a swarm of sweating reporters sitting on one end and clusters of photographers at the edges.
Skateboarding has worked for decades to get into the Olympics, and the men’s street contest was the first of four here in Tokyo. The women’s street skaters will compete on Monday, and men’s and women’s park will be contested more than a week from now.
On Sunday, most attention fell to Huston, 26, a star with a remarkable back story. He has won all of the major events of skateboarding, and his trophy room at his home in Laguna Beach, Calif., can barely contain all his awards and medals.
But he struggled to land tricks on a 12-stair “gap to square rail,” where he had put his main focus. His fell on his first two attempts, then landed — barely — a third, nearly losing his balance, rolling into a bit of a wheelie and breathing a sigh of relief.
An 8.66 score from that attempt gave Huston the confidence and points to move on. He trumped that score on his next trick, scoring 9.13 and letting loose a shout heard by the few in the venue.
His biggest challenger in the final might be Horigome, 22. In the first major post-pandemic events this spring, Huston won a Dew Tour contest, and Horigome then won the world championship in Rome. If there is an upset in Tokyo, it would be that the two of them did not finish first and second, in either order.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/07/24/sports/olympics-tokyo-updates/