By CARLO ANOLIN
Margielyn Didal ended her gallant Olympic run after placing only seventh in the final of the women’s street skateboarding in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics at the Ariake Urban Sports Park Monday.
Didal, who was constantly in rank six, fell to seventh after three straight scoreless tricks starting in the third with an overall score of 7.52.
Since then, the 2018 Asian Games gold medalist began limping as she walks away from the center park with a huge smile on her face, shrugging off the pain from bad falls.
Didal had safe runs though, scoring 2.33 and 2.22 respectively before finally landing her lone trick in the second frame courtesy of a finesse nosegrind down the rail.
Still, Didal was happy, saying competing in Tokyo was a “really, really big achievement” for her.Having started skateboarding a decade ago in the streets of Cebu city, Didal burst onto the scene in 2018 with an Asian Games gold.Didal said she would call her parents, a carpenter and a street vendor, to hear their reaction.
“I know that they’re proud of me,” she told reporters.
It was a youthful domination in the street skateboarding event as Momiji Nishiya, 13, of Japan (world No. 5) captured the gold medal, Rayssa Leal, 13, of Brazil (world No. 2) grabbed the silver, and another Japanese in Funa Nakayama, 16, (world No.11) took home the bronze.
In the preliminary heats, Didal, ranked No. 17 in the world and No. 5 in Asia, scored a total of 12.02 as the third and last tricks proved to be instrumental for her ticket en route to the medal contention.
The 22-year-old Cebuana actually ranked third overall after her performance, next to Roos Zwetsloot of the Netherlands and two-time World Skateboarding Championships gold medalist Aori Nishishimura of Japan.
But the leaderboard was shaken in Heat 3 after Nakayama and Nishiya put themselves at the top, placing first and second respectively.
Likewise, Heat 4 also pushed down Didal as Leal secured third place while Wenhui Zeng of China ranked sixth.
Completing the Top 8 cast, in order, are Nakayama, Nishiya, Leal, Zwetsloot (world No. 7), Nishimura (world No. 3), Zeng (world No. 21), Didal, and American Alexis Sablone (world No. 12)
In a surprising turn of events, top Brazilian skateboarders Leticia Bufoni (world No. 4), Didal’s idol, and Pamela Rosa, the world No. 1 athlete and the 2019 world champion, crashed out of medal contention.
Her performance mirrored that of Japan teammate Yuto Horigome, who won the men’s title with a stunning sequence of tricks on Sunday.
“I’m so glad to become the youngest (Japanese gold medallist) at my first Olympics… tears came to my eyes,” Nishiya told reporters after receiving her medal.
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.
“I was nervous on the first run but I was not nervous later,” Nishiya said, adding that she wants to claim a second gold at the Paris Olympics in 2024.
But first, to celebrate her victory, she will “go and eat at a beef barbeque restaurant”.
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 the Olympics to younger audiences. (with a report from AFP)
