Rome (AFP)

Charlotte Hym assured Friday in Rome her ticket for the Tokyo Games at the end of the semi-finals of the Street Worlds, one of the two disciplines of skateboarding now Olympic.

The Frenchwoman joins the ranks of tricolor skaters already selected, alongside Vincent Matheron and Madeleine Larcheron, both park (or bowl) specialists, the other discipline.

Hym finished 19th in the semi-finals on Friday, securing her ticket to Tokyo, where 20 street skaters will compete.

They are the first 20 in the world ranking, with a maximum of 3 riders per nation, also taking into account the quotas per continent.

“The most important thing was to find ourselves in front of some girls with whom we were fighting for places for Tokyo. There was a little pressure, I was in 19th place in the standings when the quotas were removed, I was at the bottom. last possible place, the 20th being attributed to an African. It could be played with only one place, "Hym told AFP.

The 28-year-old Parisian, doctor in cognitive neuroscience, made a significant rise in the world rankings thanks to her performance (10th) two weeks ago on the prestigious Dew Tour in Des Moines (Iowa / USA).

"When I left for Des Moines, I had a 55, 60% chance of qualifying. After Des Moines it increased and it's good! We are aiming a lot for these places, all the first places in the ranking are occupied by the Brazilians, the Japanese, the Americans, we had to succeed in finding a place in there, "she said.

It was the very young Brazilian, only 13 years old, Rayssa Leal, who finished first in the semi-finals, ahead of the Japanese Aori Nishimura and Funa Nakayama, and the American Mariah Duran, author of two extremely impressive figures ( a hard flip and a front side feeble), the prerogative of few boys.

Among the top 10 semi-finalists are five Brazilians and three Japanese.

They will only be eight in the final on Sunday, including the current world No. 1, the Brazilian Pamela Rosa.

Her compatriot and star of the discipline, Leticia Bufoni, narrowly qualified (8th).

The three medalists of the World Street Championships will take a one-way trip to Tokyo.

The boys play their semi-finals on Saturday.

Three French people are in the running: Vincent Milou, Lawrence Ravail and Joseph Garbaccio.

© 2021 AFP