With both Olympic Qualifier Series events in the books and World Skate Rankings accounted for, skateboarding at the summer games is shaping up; the competitors are locked in and now its all eyes on Paris as we eagerly await our first glimpses of the Park and Street skating course layouts.
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As expected, the outcome of the weekend’s events in Budapest at the second leg of Olympic Qualifying has put the big three of competitive skateboarding in good stead; South America’s tech contingent go band-for-band with the birthplace of skating as the pair sit pretty with 12 athletes apiece, but whilst Brazil and the United States will be confident going into the games they mustn’t overlook trailing powerhouse Japan, who claimed ten spots of their own across the four events and dominated both of the weekend’s street skating competitions.
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Finally making his competitive resurgence after a lacklustre result at qualifying events throughout the year, Japan’s gold medallist last time out Yuto Horigome put paid to questions over his commitment to the competition and took home top spot in Hungary at the Men’s Park event with a stellar showing, landing himself a spot at the games. Despite an uncharacteristic dip in his form, Yuto’s placement spells danger for the remaining Olympic hopefuls as he can turn up the notch at any moment, as symbolised by his nonchalant weekend victory which was capped by a lesser-seen Nollie Backside 270 Bluntslide effortlessly tossed down the course’s centrepiece handrail. Sweeping the weekend, Japan also took second and third place in Men’s Street with 14-year-old Ginwoo Onodera and Sora Shirai rounding out the top three and put a hurting on the Women’s Street division as Coco Yoshizawa, Yumeka Oda, and Funa Nakayama all received podium finishes.
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Transition to the Park, Japan’s airborne athletes didn’t fare quite so well, managing only a Bronze placement through Kokona Hiraki in the Women’s division in a tightly contested event that saw Great Britain’s Sky Brown power through a severe MCL injury to miraculously claim second spot, narrowly missing Australia’s Arisa Trew in first. A little closer to home, Route One’s own Lola Tambling came in clutch, scoring enough points in Budapest to take her to the summer games after an unfortunate head injury before her run in Shanghai cast doubts over whether she’d be able to recoup enough points to qualify. Lola joins Sky and Men’s Park competitor and vert skateboarding legend, X Games mainstay, and US-UK transplant Andy MacDonald for Team GB. Matching countrymate Arisa, Keegan Palmer took home first place for Australia in the Men’s Park event, tailed by Tom Schaar and Tate Carew of the USA.
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With the events of the weekend still fresh in the memory and our roster of elite skateboarding Olympians confirmed, could Budapest signal things to come? Or are we due a surprise? Let the speculation begin.