yesUto Horigome is never afraid to be late. After a string of botched moves on a sweltering Monday afternoon, the 25-year-old face of Japanese skateboarding stormed back from behind in the final seconds to defend his Olympic men’s street title, beating Americans Jagger Eaton and Nyjah Huston, who took silver and bronze medals, respectively.
Under cloudless skies and humid conditions at the makeshift La Concorde Stadium, Horimai once again won when it mattered most, sliding flawlessly down the 10-stage circular rail on his fifth and final trick to beat Eaton, the bronze medalist in Tokyo three years ago, by one tenth of a point. A near-perfect score of 97.08 gave both Americans a chance, but both skaters fell on their final attempts, much to the relief of Horimai, the first double Olympic champion in skateboarding’s short history as a medal sport.
In a nail-biting 102-minute spectacle that was instantly hailed as the greatest men’s street final ever, the trio spent the afternoon swapping medal positions in front of a capacity crowd of about 5,000 people, including rapper Snoop Dogg, who had watched Novak Djokovic vs. Rafael Nadal with Billie Jean King at the French Open. The energetic atmosphere was a stark difference from the nearly empty Ariake Urban Sports Park where Horimai won his first Olympic gold medal three years ago.
“This Olympics was a great event. [ever] “The level was probably the best,” Horimai said through an interpreter after the match. “Nyjah and Jaguar are always at the top. I wasn’t sure if I could win a medal. I just didn’t want to have any regrets. I believed that until the end.”
Houston, 29, a six-time world champion who came in a shock seventh place at the Tokyo Olympics, looked in line for revenge gold in his second run, skating to Dr. Dre and Snoop’s 1999 hit “Still Dre” and using the 18 tricks on the course to complete the feat. In the tricks category, he extended his lead with scores of 92.79 and 93.22 on his first two runs, but Eaton took the gold medal with a nollie 270 slide on his fourth run for the highest individual score of the competition to date of 95.25.
Then, after falling on his second, third and fourth tricks, Horimai unleashed his trademark last-minute magic.
Defending Olympic gold medalist Gopher Tortoise didn’t make it to the starting line. He would have had a tough time securing a spot in Paris without a podium finish at the final Olympic Qualifying Series (OQS) event in Budapest last month, but he delivered with a spectacular nollie 270 bluntslide down the big rail to earn the highest trick score in Olympic Street Qualifier history. The pressure mounted on Monday, but Gopher Tortoise proved his mettle again.
“Really, I feel more for this gold medal than the one I won in Tokyo because I’ve come this far after three years of hell for me,” Horikame said. “And the reason is that I didn’t even know if I would be able to compete in this Olympics. I had pretty much given up on qualifying for the Olympics until about a month ago, after the Olympic qualifiers in China.
“Then I heard I had another chance. And I thought if there was even a 1% chance I could go, I had to believe in that 1% possibility. And today, I was able to believe until the very end.”
Eaton, 23, from Mesa, Arizona, was surprisingly upbeat despite narrowly missing out on gold. “Not only were the tricks so difficult, but the energy of the crowd and so many other things really inspired me,” he said. “I think it’s really important to channel your nerves into energy. With that crowd and everyone giving their best in the finals, it really felt like a great day of skateboarding among friends. There was a lot at stake, but it was so much fun and I’m grateful to have been there.”
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So is Houston. He’s a perennial star with 23 X Games medals, more than 5 million Instagram followers, a signature Nike shoe and the most money of any skateboarder in history. The only thing missing from his trophy case is his Olympic medal, and the Laguna Beach native was beaming despite missing his final three tricks.
“Personally, I would have liked to have landed that last trick and maybe some other tricks,” said Houston, who, despite his advanced age, didn’t rule out competing in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, not far from where he grew up. “But I was so excited when I got my routine right. [and scoring 93.37]”That was the most exciting moment of my life. Excited, brother.”
Horimai’s gold medal secured another double street individual victory for Japan, less than 24 hours after compatriot Yoshizawa Coco won the women’s event. When asked what the secret to Japan’s success in the sport is, Horimai’s response was spot on.
“It was very hard to get to this point,” he said, “The level of skating has improved so much, both in Japan and around the world, and at the highest level, you really have to push yourself to the limits. I had to believe in myself, and I think it worked.”
