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 types. Many of those methods are so tough that rivals are unable to copy them.
In a single instance, the Japanese skater Sora Shirai’s “cab sugarcane” at a current 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 tough maneuver — driving 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 shedding his stability.
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 executed inside three seconds.
“There’s 1,000,000 issues that may go fallacious right here,” however the execution is about nearly as good as one might anticipate, stated Jason Rothmeyer, knowledgeable skateboarding choose.
Supply: Video from World Skate
It’s exhausting to pinpoint why Japanese skaters have dominated skilled skateboarding over the previous six or so years, or why they’re so good at methods. Group 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 if you see it,” Jonathan Russell Clark, the writer of a 2022 historical past of the game, stated of Group Japan’s technical prowess.
“You possibly can simply inform that they’re doing one thing that the opposite skaters aren’t doing, even should you can’t clarify it and don’t know concerning the technical specifics,” he stated.
Japanese feminine skaters have proven related strengths at Olympic qualifiers as the boys: They rating excessive in methods however are much less constant in runs. However the ladies are much less weak to the rule adjustments, as they carry out higher than their rivals in each components of the competitors.
However a scoring change launched after the Tokyo Olympics might curb that dominance – and their capability to win medals on the street skateboarding occasion.
If the boys’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.
Observe: The totals are decrease if scored with the brand new system as a result of, on the Tokyo Video games, the entire 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 entire 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 based mostly on a skater’s two greatest standalone methods, and danger and innovation are sometimes rewarded.
To ace the run part, a skater should land numerous methods – not essentially tough ones – persistently.
On the Tokyo Video games, if an athlete did effectively on standalone methods however scored comparatively poorly on runs, each run scores had been mechanically erased. That’s what occurred in Horigome’s case.
However in Paris, a kind of runs will depend towards a skateboarder’s rating it doesn’t matter what.
World Skate, a world physique that units Olympic skateboarding guidelines, modified the format for Paris after convening a committee to investigate outcomes from Tokyo. The final feeling was that the format didn’t sufficiently seize the game’s full breadth and variety, stated Luca Basilico, World Skate’s skateboarding director.
Ian Michna, the writer of the skate journal Jenkem, stated he welcomed the brand new format.
“A run exhibits how constant the skater is, how they skate stylistically, and provides you a a lot wider view of what they’re able to,” he stated.
However that will pose challenges for Group Japan as a result of its runs throughout current Olympic qualifiers weren’t particularly constant, a New York Occasions evaluate of outcomes knowledge suggests.
At the same time as Japanese skaters landed the most effective standalone methods, the Occasions evaluation discovered, their run scores lagged behind these of their prime rivals, significantly these from Brazil and america.
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 typically 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 tough one.
However Nyjah Huston, a embellished American skater, landed over 10 methods throughout quite a lot of obstacles. A few of these methods had been comparatively straightforward, however his general rating was larger.
It’s attainable that the format change gained’t have an effect on Group Japan’s efficiency in Paris.
Basilico, the World Skate consultant, stated that the change had been “executed for the sake of representing skateboarding the best way we consider it ought to be represented,” and to not goal particular athletes.
Liz Akama, a member of the Japan ladies’s staff, stated she was not nervous concerning the scoring change.
Akama stated that high-scoring, standalone methods are usually 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 stated.
Living proof: Horigome gained the Olympic qualifier in Budapest final month partly by delivering a various, nine-trick run that regarded just like Huston’s 2022 efficiency in Rome.
Shirai and a Japanese teammate, Ginwoo Onodera, completed second and third.
On the last 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 specialists predicted in interviews that Group 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 solely on runs.
“I feel they’ll do extremely effectively once more, and so they all the time will,” stated 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.”
