Japan’s Coco Yoshizawa, 14, leads teen charge in women’s street skateboarding

PARIS – Japan’s 14-year-old Coco Yoshizawa led a trio of teens on the podium in the women’s street skateboarding at the Paris Olympics on July 28, in front of a sell-out crowd at the La Concorde venue.

Her compatriot Liz Akama, 15, took silver, while Brazil’s Rayssa Leal, 16, claimed bronze.

The top-ranked competitor heading into the Olympics, Coco held her arms out wide after sliding down the rail in the highest-scoring attempt of the best-trick stage of the competition that put her out of reach.

Liz, who had a slim lead heading into the best tricks, nailed a sublime 270 switch front board on her opening attempt but could not improve on that effort.

Coco said she was surprised to have won and that performing her tricks well was even sweeter than Olympic gold.

“Paris is a big city and the Olympics is a very, very big event, and I’m very happy to win,” she said via an interpreter.

The rowdy crowd at the urban park was a ringing endorsement of the sport, just three years on from its introduction to the programme at the delayed Tokyo Games.

Coco had the best overall score of the opening heats and showed no loss of momentum in the final, where she made terrific use of the skatepark’s 18 features in two pristine runs.

She trailed Liz by a few points going into the five tricks and unleashed the best moves she had in her arsenal to try to wrest the lead back, with a fine kick flip front board on her second trick.

Coco had her highest-scoring trick (96.49 points) on the fourth try.

Rayssa had the full support of a large Brazilian contingent in the crowd as she attempted to improve on her silver in Tokyo.

But after a couple of tumbles she was happy to take bronze with a kick flip front board on her final trick of the day, as the crowd chanted her name.

“There are so many Brazilian fans here. It’s crazy,” she said. “I did what I could, and I’m really happy.”

Three teenagers on the podium would seem shocking at most other Olympic events but not so at the women’s street, where the next generation has a firm grip on things, with only a handful of the 22 competitors here aged 20 or older.

School-age skaters flew through the course against the backdrop of Paris’ historic landmarks, as the Eiffel Tower, Grand Palais and Arc de Triomphe loomed on the horizon.

The sport lifted television ratings when it was added to the programme in Tokyo, as organisers work to bring a younger audience to the Olympics.

Meanwhile, Lee Kiefer and Lauren Scruggs gave the United States gold and silver in the women’s foil on July 28 as France had another night of frustration in their quest for a Paris Olympics fencing title, with Japan’s Koki Kano winning the men’s epee final.

Kiefer, who was the first American to win an Olympic foil gold when she triumphed in Tokyo in 2021, retained the title with a comfortable 15-6 victory over her younger teammate Scruggs in the final at the stunning Grand Palais venue.

“It’s insane. These three years have been so short and so long at the same time,” said Kiefer, 30. “Every day it’s been a freaking battle and I have so many people to thank for helping me get here on this day, in this moment.

“It’s absolutely historical... Lauren fenced amazing this whole season and she deserves all this respect.”

Scruggs, 21, stunned Italian favourite Arianna Errigo in the quarter-finals to reach the Olympic final at the first attempt. She also defeated Singapore’s Amita Berthier in the table of 32 on July 28.

“I’m super happy,” said a tearful Scruggs, the first black American fencer to win an Olympic medal in a women’s individual event.

“Of course you always want to win but I still got a medal.”

Later, France failed to deliver a gold medal for the second day in a row, with Yannick Borel losing 15-9 to Kano.

Also on July 28, Australia’s Jessica Fox stormed to Olympic gold in the women’s kayak slalom in 96.08 seconds, recovering from a poor semi-final performance to smash the field at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium.

Poland’s Klaudia Zwolinska took the silver, with Briton Kimberley Woods hanging on for the bronze after a thrilling climax that saw German reigning champion Ricarda Funk disastrously miss a gate on the very last run of the day.

Fox said: “It was just the perfect day for me – it didn’t start well, but it finished really well. It was just magical.” REUTERS