Horigome, who gained the primary gold in Olympic males’s avenue skateboarding in Tokyo three years in the past by touchdown 4 high-scoring methods, leads a category of elite Japanese male skate boarders who thrive on innovation.
He and his friends distinguish themselves by creating distinctive methods that merge quite a lot of kinds. Many of those methods are so troublesome that opponents are unable to duplicate them.
In a single instance, the Japanese skater Sora Shirai’s “cab sugarcane” at a latest Olympic qualifier fused two intricate methods, a “caballerial” and a “sugarcane.” The judges gave it a rating of 97.07, on the time the best for a trick at such an occasion.
Shirai begins the trick with a troublesome maneuver — using backward with the identical foot place as going ahead.
He crouches as he prepares to go airborne.
After rotating his shoulders …
… he begins to spin counterclockwise.
Then he lands on the rail going through backward, a operate of muscle reminiscence and years of coaching.
Right here he finishes a “caballerial,” a sort of 360-degree spin invented by the American skateboarder Steve Caballero.
To prime it off, he slides down with the rail between his wheels and a part of his board hanging off to the aspect, all with out dropping his steadiness.
After finishing the slide, he spins into one other 180-degree flip, utilizing his arms to information his physique.
He lands easily, a element that can enhance his rating. With that he completes the “sugarcane.” It was all completed inside three seconds.
“There’s one million issues that may go fallacious right here,” however the execution is about nearly as good as one might count on, mentioned Jason Rothmeyer, knowledgeable skateboarding decide.
Supply: Video from World Skate
It’s laborious to pinpoint why Japanese skaters have dominated skilled skateboarding over the previous six or so years, or why they’re so good at methods. Staff Japan clinched the gold medal in each women and men’s avenue skateboarding in Tokyo.
“It’s just like the well-known definition of pornography: You recognize it whenever you see it,” Jonathan Russell Clark, the creator of a 2022 historical past of the game, mentioned of Staff Japan’s technical prowess.
“You possibly can simply inform that they’re doing one thing that the opposite skaters aren’t doing, even for those who can’t clarify it and don’t know in regards to the technical specifics,” he mentioned.
Japanese feminine skaters have proven related strengths at Olympic qualifiers as the lads: They rating excessive in methods however are much less constant in runs. However the ladies are much less susceptible to the rule modifications, as they carry out higher than their opponents in each components of the competitors.
However a scoring change launched after the Tokyo Olympics might curb that dominance – and their means to win medals on the street skateboarding occasion.
If the lads’s “avenue” competitors on the Tokyo Olympics had been scored utilizing the brand new Paris format, Kelvin Hoefler of Brazil, who completed second, would have gained gold.
Horigome would have needed to accept bronze.
Notice: The totals are decrease if scored with the brand new system as a result of, on the Tokyo Video games, the whole rating was the sum of 4 scores — the 4 highest of any of the 2 runs and 5 methods. However within the new scoring system, the whole rating is the sum of solely three — the best run rating and the 2 greatest trick scores.
The road occasion consists of two 45-second runs and 5 standalone methods over an impediment course. The methods are scored primarily based on a skater’s two greatest standalone methods, and threat and innovation are sometimes rewarded.
To ace the run part, a skater should land a lot of methods – not essentially troublesome ones – persistently.
On the Tokyo Video games, if an athlete did nicely on standalone methods however scored comparatively poorly on runs, each run scores had been robotically erased. That’s what occurred in Horigome’s case.
However in Paris, a type of runs will depend towards a skateboarder’s rating it doesn’t matter what.
World Skate, a global physique that units Olympic skateboarding guidelines, modified the format for Paris after convening a committee to research outcomes from Tokyo. The final feeling was that the format didn’t sufficiently seize the game’s full breadth and variety, mentioned Luca Basilico, World Skate’s skateboarding director.
Ian Michna, the writer of the skate journal Jenkem, mentioned he welcomed the brand new format.
“A run reveals how constant the skater is, how they skate stylistically, and provides you a a lot wider view of what they’re able to,” he mentioned.
However that will pose challenges for Staff Japan as a result of its runs throughout latest Olympic qualifiers weren’t particularly constant, a New York Instances evaluate of outcomes knowledge suggests.
At the same time as Japanese skaters landed the most effective standalone methods, the Instances evaluation discovered, their run scores lagged behind these of their prime opponents, notably these from Brazil and the US.
Supply: World Skate
Notes: Proven are the best run and trick scores of athletes who will compete within the Paris Olympics. Solely scores on the finals of the Paris Olympic qualifiers are included.
American and Brazilian male avenue skaters had been typically stronger than their Japanese counterparts on runs as a result of they executed extra methods, fluidly and constantly, throughout the impediment course.
Against this, Japanese skaters usually started and ended their run sequences with high-skill methods that impressed followers however risked damaging their general scores.
Right here’s an instance from a post-Olympic competitors in Rome two years in the past.
Horigome landed solely seven methods throughout his run, and didn’t land his most troublesome one.
However Nyjah Huston, a adorned American skater, landed over 10 methods throughout quite a lot of obstacles. A few of these methods had been comparatively simple, however his general rating was increased.
It’s doable that the format change gained’t have an effect on Staff Japan’s efficiency in Paris.
Basilico, the World Skate consultant, mentioned that the change had been “completed for the sake of representing skateboarding the way in which we imagine it needs to be represented,” and to not goal particular athletes.
Liz Akama, a member of the Japan ladies’s staff, mentioned she was not nervous in regards to the scoring change.
Akama mentioned that high-scoring, standalone methods usually are not her forte. The format change has allowed her to focus extra on perfecting methods she will already land, together with ones that could possibly be utilized in her runs.
“Though the principles have modified, everyone seems to be adapting,” she mentioned.
Working example: Horigome gained the Olympic qualifier in Budapest final month partly by delivering a various, nine-trick run that appeared much like Huston’s 2022 efficiency in Rome.
Shirai and a Japanese teammate, Ginwoo Onodera, completed second and third.
On the ultimate Olympics qualifier, in Budapest, Japanese skate boarders dominated the podiums. From left to proper: Ginwoo Onodera, Yuto Horigome and Sora Shirai.
Attila Kisbenedek/Agence France-Presse — Getty Photos
A number of consultants predicted in interviews that Staff Japan would excel in Paris as a result of the nation’s greatest avenue skaters have confirmed their versatility in competitors after competitors.
Horigome additionally gained this 12 months’s Tampa Professional, a avenue occasion the place the scoring relies totally on runs.
“I believe they’ll do extremely nicely once more, they usually all the time will,” mentioned Kevin Harris, a Canadian ex-pro who has deep ties to Japan’s skateboarding group. “They’re producing the most effective skate boarders on the planet.”
