Rome (AFP)
Japanese skaters Yuto Horigome, for men, and Aori Nishimura, for women, won the 2021 Street Worlds in Rome on Sunday, one of the two Olympic disciplines this summer at the Tokyo Games.
Japan also won four of the six medals awarded at these championships, with silver for Momiji Nishiya and bronze for Sora Shirai.
The four Japanese qualify directly for the Olympics.
Before the big Olympic meeting where skateboarding will make its debut as an additional sport, Horigome made a strong impression, affording the luxury of dislodging the American star of the discipline, Nyjah Huston, who let go of his crown to settle for the 'silver.
# photo1
Horigome, from Tokyo, was crowned world champion for the first time with a total of 36.75 points against 35.75 for Huston and 34.58 for Shirai.
Among the women, Nishimura, injured last year, returned to her highest level to once again take the world crown after that of 2018. She totaled 14.73 points, ahead of her compatriot Nishiya (14.17) and the whole 13-year-old Brazilian girl, Rayssa Leal (13.47).
All the medalists of these worlds, the last competition before the Games, are directly qualified for Tokyo.
Twenty places in men's street and twenty in women's street, as well as twenty places in men's park and twenty in women's park - the other discipline - are available for the Olympics (23 July-8 August).
They are allocated according to the world ranking, at the rate of 3 skaters per nation in each category.
# photo2
There were no French in the final on Sunday.
The best ranking is that of Vincent Milou, ninth at the end of the semi-finals on Saturday;
only eight reached the final.
France will have five skate representatives at the Olympics: Aurélien Giraud, Vincent Milou and Charlotte Hym for the street, Vincent Matheron and Madeleine Larcheron for the park.
© 2021 AFP