Yosozumi wins Japan's 3rd Olympic skateboarding gold in women's park

Sakura Yosozumi of Japan celebrates after women's park final of skateboarding at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, Aug. 4, 2021. (Xinhua/Li Ga)

TOKYO, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- Sakura Yosozumi won the third skateboarding gold for Olympic hosts Japan in as many events with victory in the women's park final here on Wednesday.

The 19-year-old had an impressive first run in the final that earned her 60.09 points which no other skaters could match.

"I'm super happy to win the gold medal," Yosozumi said. "We enjoyed it, we had so much fun, and then all did great tricks together."

Kokona Hiraki, 12, took silver with 59.04 points, while Britain's 13-year-old Sky Brown wrapped up her performance with a 56.47-point showdown that secured her a bronze.

Brown, the youngest British Olympian of all-time, said afterwards it was "insane" to stand on podium and to share it with her friends, especially Yosozumi, whom she called one of her best friends.

"Everyone did amazing, everyone was doing so good, I'm so proud of everyone, and just being on the podium with my really good friend is just insane," she said.

The one-two finish for Yosozumi and Hiraki put Japan firmly on top of the skateboarding medal tally, after Yuto Horigome and Momiji Nishiya won men's and women's street gold and Funa Nakayama added a bronze after Nishiya.

World No.1 Misugu Okamoto, who qualified first in the preliminaries but fell on all her three runs in the final, missed the podium with 53.58 points.

China's Zhang Xin finished 15th in the qualification and did not make it to the final.

The 22-year-old gave herself a seven out of 10 for her performance.

"This is a big course and I was quite surprised I didn't make any mistakes. But my degree of difficulty is not that good, so I will work on this in my future training," she said.

The men's park competition will conclude skateboarding's Olympic debut on Thursday with world No.1 Heimana Reynolds seeking to break Japanese skaters' home dominance.