Japan’s Momiji Nishiya became one of the youngest individual Olympic
champions in history when she won the inaugural women’s skateboarding
gold at the age of 13 years and 330 days on Monday.
Nishiya finished ahead of Brazil’s Rayssa Leal – who at 13 years and
203 days could have become the youngest ever individual Olympic
champion – and Japan’s Funa Nakayama, 16.
Nishiya starred in the tricks section to score 15.26 and give the
hosts a clean-sweep of the street discipline as skateboarding makes its
Olympic debut.
Her performance mirrored that of Japan team-mate Yuto Horigome, who
won the men’s title with a stunning sequence of tricks on Sunday.
US diver Marjorie Gestring remains the youngest individual Olympic
champion after winning the 3m springboard at the 1936 Berlin Games at 13
years and 268 days.
Skaters each have two 45-second runs on the equipment and five shots
at a one-off trick. Their best four scores out of the seven make up
their final total.
Skateboarding is one of four sports making their debut in Tokyo,
along with surfing, sport climbing and karate as part of an attempt to
bring Olympics to younger audiences.
Japan’s Momiji Nishiya became one of the youngest individual Olympic champions in history when she won the inaugural women’s skateboarding gold at the age of 13 years and 330 days.
