Olympics: Women's Park Finals
With both Street Skateboarding events accounted for, we turn our attention towards the transition side of the contest as the Olympics' high-flying four-wheeled contingent take to the stage and SkateboardGB make their Paris 2024 debut.
With 8 spots up for grabs and 22 of the world's best qualified for the preliminary rounds, the group were divided into four separate heats with each skater allowed three runs to put together their best score, with the best scores across the board advancing to the final.
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All eyes were on the talent in heat 3, as SkateboardGB's youthful power duo Sky Brown and Route One's own Lola Tambling were set to appear alongside heavy-hitters Arisa Trew (Australia) and Minna Stess and Ruby Lilley (USA).
Dropping in first for Team GB, Lola Tambling put to concrete a powerful performance reminiscent of her favourite skater, Peter Hewitt. Despite taking a wobble on a seriously-torqued Frontside Feeble grind on the bowl's biggest wall, Lola was able to chain together all of her tricks with style and energy, an energy that reverberated throughout the crowd as she miraculously made her last trick, a Frontside 540.
Contrasting Lola's raw aggression, compatriot Sky Brown linked a smooth and graceful line that relied heavily on pirouetting spins and floaty airs rather than the burly grinds that defined Tambling's tactic. Brown capped her performance by twirling a blind Frontside 360 over the spine ramp slightly outside of the buzzer, so needed to focus on condensing her run for full affect.
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After cleaning up the first half of her second run, the Frontside Feeble was once again Lola's undoing, causing her to loop out as she left the coping and cutting short what was shaping up to be a solid run; Sky also took a fall, losing grip on a Stalefish Grab in a corner pocket as she set up for her final trick.
With her Olympic hopes hanging in the balance, Lola needed something special for her third run but, in a cruel twist of fate, she fell on her patented Backside Rock-and-Roll slide, ruling her out of contention. Team GB's hopes were pinned on sixteen year old Sky Brown then, but she, too, took a tumble on a trick she seemingly had dialled, potentially aggravating a shoulder injury she'd taken recently.
Thanks to her impressive showing in her first run, Sky was able to advance in fourth position, opting to valiantly continue in spite of her slam. She was joined by Japan's Kokona Hiraki and Hinano Kusaki, USA's Bryce Wettstein, Finland's Heili Sirvio, Australia's Arisa Trew, Spain's Naia Laso, and Brazil's Dora Varella.
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Hiraki looked to be the athlete to beat after her first run, scoring above a 90 as Sky Brown managed to piece together a solid, foundational run that replicated her prelim performance. Moving into run 2, Arisa Trew shook off a lacklustre first run with a dominant display that blended the complete selection of skateboard tricks, flipping, spinning, grabbing, and grinding, which landed her in third place behind Hiraki and Brown. With less than 2 points separating Gold from Bronze, it was all to play for in the third run.
Building on her second run, Arisa Trew continued to level up with a technically complete run that allowed her to leapfrog both Brown and Cocona for first position, with an intimidating 93.18 on the board. Next up, Sky Brown brought the heat by upping the difficulty of the tricks in her run, opting for a precarious Backside Lipslide and a Kickflip Indy Grab over an island for a score of 92.31 which sent her to second place. Lastly, Hiraki capitalised on her opportunity to strike from behind, flowing around the course with a calmness best exemplified by her poised Backside Nosegrind on a steeply-banked wall. Hitting almost every obstacle in her way, she earned a score of 92.63 to snag Silver.