Nyjah Huston Takes First Place in Skateboard Street | '23 World Skateboarding Tour
Nyjah Wins Official Qualifier Event for 2024 Paris Olympics, Kelvin Hoefler Claims Third Place in Heated Final on Sunday.
Nyjah is back to his winning ways! Nyjah Huston took first place in Men’s Skateboard Street at the 2023 World Skateboarding Tour competition in Rome. In the official ‘Road to Paris 2024’ qualifier event for the upcoming Summer Olympics, Huston claimed the top spot and important ranking points. Huston was joined on the podium by Kelvin Hoefler, who took third place after a strong performance.
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From June 18-25, the 2023 World Skateboarding Tour (WST) contest attracted skateboarders from across the globe to Parco di Colle Oppio skatepark, directly adjacent to the Colosseum historic landmark in the Italian capital. Showcased by World Skate, the official international governing body for skateboarding in the Olympics, the competition offered $200,000 in prize money and qualifier points for the upcoming Olympic Summer Games.
MEN'S SKATEBOARD STREET
Winners were decided on compound scores, including the best of two Run scores, as well as the top-scoring two Best Trick Attempts. Heading into Sunday’s final, Huston was looking to return to the winner’s circle after recovering from a knee injury that had sidelined him for the majority of the 2022 season.
Huston put the rest of the pack on notice by posting a perfect run on his first attempt, including switch frontside tailslide the big Hubba, 360 kickflip the kicker, kickflip backside disaster the quarterpipe, kickflip frontside boardslide the Euro Gap rail, blunt kickflip the quarterpipe, Half Cab crooked the rail into bank, kickflip backside lipslide the flat rail, Half Cab kickflip the kicker, and Half Cab backside Smith grind 180 out the big Hubba for a whopping 90.00 points.
When the contest moved into Best Trick attempts, Huston maintained the upper hand by posting switch heelflip frontside tailslide (92.55 points) and switch heelflip frontside 5-0 (89.92 points) down the big Hubba. As the exclamation mark to an outstanding performance, Huston upped the ante by landing a nollie heelflip backside tailslide fakie (93.96 points) to bring his total score to 276.51 points for the win.
“It was a hard comeback because that was my first serious injury ever. I definitely didn’t picture that I’d be in this position right now. It was a ton of hard work, and I’ve been hungry for a win. It’s a momentum thing. You get a good first run down, and that helps you carry that momentum through the contest. I was feeling confident out there. We made it happen!"
Also advancing to a podium finish, Hoefler raised the bar by posting the highest Run score of Sunday’s finals. His second run featured kickflip frontside nosegrind the Hubba, sugarcane grind the rail, 360 kickflip lipslide the Euro Gap rail, frontside blunt the quarterpipe, backside tailslide the rail into bank, kickflip backside lipslide the flat rail, nollie frontside lipslide fakie the flat rail and a switch frontside tailslide 270 out the big Hubba for 91.51 points.
In Best Trick, Hoefler finessed a Half Cab to backside Smith grind 180 out the tall Hubba for 84.82 points. After missing the landing on his next attempt, Hoefler secured his podium finish by landing a Half Cab backside nosegrind 180 out the big Hubba for 82.95 points, bringing his total score to 259.28 for third place.
WOMEN'S SKATE STREET FINAL
Rayssa Leal came to Rome fresh off taking the win in the SLS World Tour competition in Chicago in April and taking gold at X Games Chiba 2023 in May. In February, the 15-year-old Brazilian ripper claimed the title in the World Skate 2022 World Championships in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
In Rome, Leal emerged from the highly contested semifinal in second place. But the finals proved challenging for the Olympic silver medalist. While several competitors posted perfect runs, Leal lost the handle on the opening trick of Run 1, leaving her overall score riding on putting together a perfect second run.
No stranger to grace under pressure, Leal put together backside lipslide the big rail, frontside nosegrind the Hubba, frontside bluntslide the flat rail, gap to backside Smith grind the big Hubba, backside 50-50 the bump to rail and a near-miss backside tailslide the big Hubba for 70.00 points.
Not getting the Run score she wanted, Leal had to bring her A-game to Best Trick attempts. On her first try, she posted a technical gap to frontside bluntslide the big Hubba for 85.91 points. After taking a heavy slam on the second attempt, Leal skipped the third attempt to recover. Next, she showed her grit by landing a perfectly poised backside Smith grinds the tall rail for 84.66 points. With everything depending on her last attempt, Leal opted for a risky kickflip backside tailslide and missed, finishing closely off the podium in fourth place.
