Horigome retains Olympic street skateboard title over US duo in ‘best ever’ show

Iuto Horigome has never been afraid to leave things hanging for too long. In danger of missing the podium entirely after botching one trick after another on a sultry Monday afternoon, the 25-year-old face of Japanese skateboarding roared from behind in the final roll to retain his Olympic men’s street title ahead of American pair Jagger Eaton and Nyjah Huston, who took silver and bronze respectively.

Amid oppressive heat under a cloudless sky at the temporary La Concorde stadium, Horigome returned to action when it mattered most. He completed a flawless slide down the 10-stair round rail on his fifth and final trick to slide into gold position, one-tenth of a point ahead of Eaton, a bronze medalist three years ago in Tokyo. The near-perfect score of 97.08 left the door open for both Americans, but they were both eliminated in their final attempts in relief of Horigome, who became the first two-time Olympic champion in skateboarding’s short history as a medal sport.

In a pulse-pounding 102-minute can-you-top-this show that was immediately hailed as the best men’s street final ever, the trio traded medal positions throughout the afternoon in front of a packed house of around 5,000 spectators, including rapper Snoop Dogg, who had started the day watching Novak Djokovic defeat Rafael Nadal alongside Billie Jean King at Roland-Garros. The electric atmosphere was a breath of fresh air compared to the near-empty Ariake Urban Sports Park where Horigome won his first Olympic gold three years ago.

“These Olympic Games were the best event [ever] and the level was probably the highest,” Horigome said through an interpreter afterward. “Nyjah and Jagger, they are always at the top. I wasn’t sure I could win a medal. I just didn’t want to have any regrets. I believed in it until the end.”

The 29-year-old Huston, a six-time world champion who finished a surprising seventh at the Tokyo Games, appeared to be on his way to a redeeming gold medal after his second run, where he made full use of the rink’s 18 elements as he skated to Dr. Dre and Snoop’s 1999 hit “Still Dre.” He extended that lead in the trick portion of the competition, posting scores of 92.79 and 93.22 on his first two attempts before Eaton took gold with a nollie 270 slide on his fourth attempt, earning the highest individual score of the competition to that point with a 95.25.

That was when Horigome, who had already made mistakes on his second, third and fourth shots, conjured up the kind of last-kick magic that has become his calling card.

Horigame’s Olympic gold medal defense nearly didn’t make it to the starting line. Horigame needed a podium finish in the final event of the Olympic Qualifier Series (OQS) in Budapest last month to cement his place in the Paris field. He delivered a flying masterclass, punctuated by a nollie 270 bluntslide down the big rail for the highest trick score in Olympic street qualifying history. On Monday, with the pressure mounting, Horigame pulled through again.

“Really, after three years that were 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 that I wasn’t sure if I would even go to this Olympics. Until about a month ago, after the Olympic qualification in China, I had almost given up on qualifying for the Olympics.

“Then, afterwards, I heard that there was still a chance. And I thought that even if there was a 1% chance that I would make it, I had to believe in that 1% chance. And today I was able to continue to believe until the end.”

Eaton, a 23-year-old from Mesa, Arizona, was remarkably upbeat despite narrowly missing out on gold. “Not only were there some awesome tricks, but the energy of the crowd and so much stuff, we just fed off of it,” he said. “I think it’s so important to channel that nerve into energy. That crowd and that final with everyone doing great, it really felt like a bunch of friends having a great day of skateboarding. The stakes were high, but it was so much fun. I was just thankful to be there.”

The same goes for Huston, an established star with 23 X Games medals, more than 5 million Instagram followers, a signature Nike shoe, and more prize money than any other skateboarder in history. An Olympic medal was the only piece missing from his trophy case, and the Laguna Beach native was in good spirits despite missing his last three tricks.

“I personally wish I had landed that last trick, or just a few more tricks in general,” said Huston, who despite his advancing age has not ruled out a run for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, not far from where he grew up. “I was really excited about landing my run, but [and scoring 93.37]. That was the most hyped I’ve ever been in my life. I was pumped, bro.”

Horigome’s gold completed another Japanese street double, less than 24 hours after compatriot Coco Yoshizawa won the women’s event. Asked about the secret to Japan’s success in the sport, Horigome was to the point.

“It’s been really tough to get to this point,” he said. “The level of skating in Japan and also in the world has gone up so much. And at the highest level, I really had to push the boundaries. I had to believe in myself and that’s probably what worked.”