TOKONAME, Japan - Japan won three street skateboarding medals Sunday at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, but gold proved elusive for the country that has dominated the event in Olympic competition.
Toa Sasaki and Ginwoo Onodera claimed silver and bronze, respectively, behind South Korea's Kang Ju Ni in the men's final, while Yumeka Oda took silver in the women's competition won by China's Zhu Yuanling.
Competitors perform three timed runs and three individual tricks, with their best score in each category added together for their final score.
Kang scored highest for both the run and trick components to amass 180.85 points overall, with back-to-back reigning world champion Sasaki totaling 172.35 and Paris Olympian Onodera earning 168.11.
The 17-year-old South Korean sealed the title on the last of his three trick attempts, having been at risk of missing the podium after failing to score with his first two attempts.
"I thought there was a chance (Kang) would lower the difficulty and just try to land something, but he went for it and landed it, so that was amazing," Sasaki said.
The youngest competitor, 12-year-old Kirin Petkiree of Thailand, placed seventh in the eight-man final.
Sasaki, 19, said the strength of the competition underscored the number of world-class skateboarders emerging from several Asian countries.
"I felt that if I don't really raise my level, things are going to get pretty tough from here," he said. "Even at world competitions, a lot of athletes from Asia finish near the top, so you really can't let your guard down in Asia either."
Aichi Prefecture native Oda, 19, performed the highest-scoring trick of the competition, earning 90.75 on her first attempt, with her total of 161.96 leaving her behind the 15-year-old Zhu on 166.57. China's Cui Chenxi took bronze with 156.60.
"It felt really good to be able to show my big trick to everyone here in my hometown," said Oda, who won the 2023 world championship and placed fourth at the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023.
"I was able to finish two places higher than last time, so that was good, but I really wanted to win the gold medal."
Japan has won every Olympic street skateboarding gold medal, in both the men's and women's events, since the sport's debut at the Tokyo Games in 2021.
