Skateboarding’s road to the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo opened for business in London with its first qualifying event, the SLS World Tour stop in London’s Copper Box Arena. This was the first opportunity for athletes to begin collecting points that will ultimately end in a spot in next year’s Olympic Games.
In the men’s Street competition, all eyes were on three-time World Champion Nyjah Huston of the U.S. and he delivered. In the final, he was the only one to score more than 9.0 on both runs and on two scoring tricks for a 36.7 total.
In a format which allows the best four scores to be taken from the two runs and five different tricks, consistency won out for Portugal’s Gustavo Ribeiro. Only one of his runs scored high – 8.8 – but he had tricks scores of 9.2, 9.0 and 8.9 and that was enough for 35.9 and the silver medal. Australia’s Shane O’Neill, the 2016 World Champion, scored 34.8 for third; he had great tricks scores of 9.3 and 9.1, but his first run of 7.1 left him with the bronze medal.
The women’s Street final was expected to feature Brazil’s four-time Worlds medalist Leticia Bufoni, but it was teammate Pamela Rosa who scored most consistently, with a 7.0 first run and tricks scores of 6.7, 6.5 and 6.1 to compile a winning score of 26.3. The highest individual run score came from silver-medal winner Hayley Wilson (AUS) with a 7.2. Summaries:
World Skate/SLS World Tour
London (GBR) ~ 21-26 May 2019
(Full results here)
Men/Street: 1. Nyjah Huston (USA), 36.7; 2. Gustavo Ribeiro (POR), 35.9; 3. Shane O’Neill (AUS), 34.8; 4. Kelvin Hoefler (BRA), 34.8; 5. Manny Santiago (PUR), 23.8. Also: 8. Louie Lopez (USA), 22.1.
Women/Street: 1. Pamela Rosa (BRA), 26.3; 2. Hayley Wilson (AUS), 26.2; 3. Jhulia Mendes Leal (BRA), 26.0; 4. Leticia Bufoni (BRA), 25.9; 5. Aori Nishimura (JPN), 22.4. Also: 8. Alexis Sablone (USA), 19.0.
