Japanese Horigome defends street skate gold

Americans Jagger Eaton and Nyjah Huston both won medals in the men’s street skateboarding event in thrilling displays of daring. But it was Japanese star Yuto Horigome who landed an impressive Nollie 270 noseblunt in his final trick to outshine the competition and win his second straight gold medal.

Eaton and Huston were locked at 1-2 going into the final round, but Horigome pulled off the legendary trick to amaze the crowd and scored a score of 97.08, which vaulted him into first place with a total score of 281.14. Had he not done so, the reigning champion would have dropped to seventh place.

Huston, 30, led the pack for much of the competition but dropped to bronze when he failed to score on his final three attempts, finishing with 279.38 points. The world-famous skater is a 15-time X Games gold medalist and is considered one of the greatest skateboarders of all time.

Nyjah Huston is ON. 😲
What a second run in the men’s street final! #Olympic Games in Paris
📺 : E! and Pauw photo.twitter.com/CSUWAHe6tN

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 29, 2024

Eaton went into the final round of tricks in first place after scoring a 95.25 on his fourth trick. The 23-year-old, who won bronze in Tokyo despite a broken ankle, clapped his hands in excitement after landing the trick and looked set for gold.

Eaton won his final attempt with silver and a score of 281.04 points.

Horigome’s teammate Sora Shirai was knocked off the podium by Horigome’s historic score. Shirai had a chance to sneak back to bronze with his final attempt, but missed his trick by a hair’s breadth.

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(Photo: Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images)