Yuto Horigome and Rayssa Leal Take First Place at Third Olympic Skateboard Street Qualifier
On Sunday, July 28, 2019, skateboarders gather at the Galen Center in Los Angeles, California for the third Olympic street skateboarding qualifier competition. Fans witnessed 11-year-old Rayssa Leal from Brazil win her first top SLS podium spot and Yuto Horigome from Japan defend his SLS Los Angeles title. Both events saw wild finals with unbelievable consistency from the women and high scoring hammers in the men’s competition.
The future of skateboarding is in good hands with skaters like Rayssa showcasing her level of skateboarding rise with each passing competition. Stop number two on the SLS World Tour marks as Rayssa’s first massive win as she is staking up Olympic qualifying points in hopes of representing her home country of Brazil in the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games. Next on the podium is fellow Brazilian Pamela Rosa. The previous two Olympic qualifiers were at Dew Tour Long Beach and SLS London where Pamela took first place at both events making for a solid foundation in Olympic qualifying points. Last but not least, American Alana Smith rounded out the podium in third place. Alana also made the highest single trick score of the night with a gap to backside lipslide receiving a 7.3.
Yuto Horigome shut down the men’s final with a score of 35.7. When asked about his game plan Yuto replied with “my strategy is to just try hard cause everyone is so crazy, everyone has hard tricks.” Yuto also walked away with the highest scoring individual trick of a 9.4 with a nollie backside 270 noseslide. Following behind first place is American rookie Maurio McCoy who’s consistent ability to kickflip into every grind or slide won him solid eights across the board. As for third place, Frenchmen Vincent Milou rounded out the podium with a final score of 34.1.
Be sure to follow skateboarding’s Olympic hopefuls as they near the end of the 2019 Olympic qualifying season with two remaining street qualifier events. The first taking place at the International Skateboarding Open (ISO) in Qingfeng, China, September 3-9, 2019. Closing out the season will be at the SLS World Championships in Mexico City, Mexico, September 17-22, 2019.
Stay tuned for official Olympic World Skateboarding Rankings coming soon.
SLS World Tour Stop #2 Los Angeles Men’s Results:
1.) Yuto Horigome (JPN), 35.7
2.) Maurio McCoy (USA), 34.5
3.) Vincent Milou (FRA), 34.1
4.) Giovanni Vianna (BRA), 32.6
5.) Carlos Ribeiro (BRA), 29.7
6.) Sora Shirai (JPN), 27.0
7.) Kelvin Hoefler (BRA), 26.1
8.) Nyjah Huston (USA). 17.4
SLS World Tour Stop #2 Los Angeles Women’s Results:
1.) Rayssa Leal (BRA), 23.3
2.) Pamela Rosa (BRA), 22.8
3.) Alana Smith (USA), 22.5
4.) Aori Nishimura (JPN), 22.1
5.) Margielyn Didal (PHL), 21.7
6.) Leticia Bufoni (BRA), 21.0
7.) Alexis Sablone (USA), 16.3
8.) Yumeka Oda (JPN), 8.1
Yuto Horigome’s highest-scoring individual trick:
Maurio McCoy’s highest-scoring individual trick:
Vincent Milou’s highest-scoring individual trick:
Rayssa Leal’s highest-scoring individual trick:
Pamela Rosa’s highest-scoring individual trick:
Alana Smith’s highest-scoring individual trick:
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