Yuto Horigome has never been afraid to leave things late. In danger of missing the podium entirely after bottling one trick after another on a sweltering Monday afternoon, the 25-year-old face of Japanese skateboarding roared from behind in the final reel to retain his Olympic men’s street title ahead of the US pair of Jagger Eaton and Nyjah Huston, who took silver and bronze respectively.
Amid oppressive heat beneath a cloudless sky in the temporary La Concorde stadium, Horigome once again came up clutch when it mattered most. He completed a flawless slide down the 10-stair round rail on his fifth and final trick to move into gold position by a tenth of a point over Eaton, a bronze medalist three years ago in Tokyo. The near-perfect score of 97.08 left the door open for both Americans, but each wiped out on his final attempt to the relief of Horigome, who became the first double Olympic champion in skateboarding’s brief history as a medal sport.
In a heart-pounding 102-minute show of can-you-top-this immediately hailed as the greatest men’s street final ever staged, the trio spent the afternoon swapping medal positions before a packed crowd of about 5,000 spectators that included rapper Snoop Dogg, who had started the day watching Novak Djokovic’s win over Rafael Nadal alongside Billie Jean King at Roland-Garros. The crackling atmosphere was a far cry from the nearly empty Ariake Urban Sports Park where Horigome won his first Olympic gold three years ago.
“These Olympics, it was the best event [ever] and the level was probably the highest,” Horigome said afterward through an interpreter. “Nyjah and Jagger, they’re always at the top. I was not really sure whether I could medal. I just did not want to have any regrets. I believed in that until the end.”
The 29-year-old Huston, a six-time world champion who placed a shocking seventh at the Tokyo Games, appeared on course for a redemptive gold after his second run, where he made ample use of the course’s 18 features while skating to Dr Dre and Snoop’s 1999 hit Still Dre. He managed to stretch that lead further in the tricks portion of the contest, posting scores of 92.79 and 93.22 on his first two tries until Eaton overtook gold position with a nollie 270 slide in his fourth try, earning the highest individual score of the competition to that point with a 95.25.
That’s when Horigome, who had taken spills on his second, third and fourth tricks, conjured the sort of last-gasp magic that’s become his calling card.
Horigame’s defense of his Olympic gold nearly didn’t reach the starting line. Needing a podium finish in the final Olympic Qualifier Series (OQS) event last month in Budapest simply to confirm his place in the Paris field, Horigame delivered a soaring masterclass punctuated by a nollie 270 bluntslide down the big rail, good for the highest ever trick score in Olympic street qualifying history. On Monday, with the pressure turned up even higher, Horigame came through once more.
“Really, coming this far after three years that were like hell for me, I have stronger emotions around this gold medal than the one I got in Tokyo,” Horigame said. “The reason for that is I wasn’t sure if I would even get to these Olympics. Until about a month ago, after the Olympic qualifier in China, I had all but given up on qualifying for the Olympics.
“Then, afterwards, I heard there was another chance. And I thought that even if there was a 1% chance I could make it, I had to believe in that 1% chance. And today, too, I was able to have belief until the very end.”
Eaton, a 23-year-old from Mesa, Arizona, was remarkably upbeat despite missing out on gold by the slimmest of margins. “Not only were gnarly, gnarly tricks done, but the energy with the crowd and so many things, we were just feeding off it,” he said. “I think that turning those nerves into energy is so important. That crowd and that final with everybody killing it, it honestly felt like a bunch of friends having an amazing day of skateboarding. There was a lot on the line, but really it was so fun. I was just grateful to be there.”
Same for Huston, a long-established star with 23 X Games medals, more than 5m Instagram followers, a signature Nike shoe and more prize money than any other skateboarder in history. An Olympic medal was the lone bauble missing from his trophy case and the Laguna Beach native was all smiles despite missing his last three tricks.
“I personally wish I would have landed that last trick or just some more tricks out there in general,” said Huston, who despite his advanced age did not rule out a run for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics not far from where he grew up. “I was very hyped on landing my run though [and scoring 93.37]. That was like the most hyped I’ve ever been in my life. I was juiced, bro.”
Horigome’s gold completed another Japanese street double, coming less than 24 hours after countrywoman Coco Yoshizawa won the women’s competition. Asked the reveal the secret behind Japan’s success in the sport, Horigome was to the point.
“To reach this far it has been very tough,” he said. “The skating level in Japan and also in the world has come up so much. And at the highest level, I really had to challenge the limit. I had to believe in myself and that’s probably what worked.”
