Japan wins its third skateboarding gold medal of the Games, in women’s park.
Brown stumbled in her first two runs of the final but skated flawlessly on the pressure-packed third. She raised her arms in the air, climbed out of the bowl and knelt on the deck and then got hugs from her competitors.
The judges were less impressed and gave her a score of 56.47.
Misugu Okamoto, 15 and a favorite for the gold medal, came off the board on all of her final runs but still scored well enough to finish fourth.
The women’s park discipline in skateboarding had the youngest set of teenagers (and one preteen) in the Olympics. One by one, they dropped into the concrete bowl and buzzed over its ramps and hips and up its walls, flying up and over the lip to twist and turn and drop back in again.
Runs lasted 45 seconds. Brown, Hiraki and Okamoto were among those who stood out from the beginning with bigger airs, more nuanced tricks and bursts of speed and confidence.
