Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, December 17 (Reporter Wang Qinou) According to the official website of the World Roller Skating and Skateboarding Federation (World Roller Federation), the 2023 Street Skateboarding World Championships ended in Tokyo, Japan on the 17th. Chinese teenager Cui Chenxi, who won gold at the Asian Games in Hangzhou this year, reached the women's street final for the first time and finished eighth, the highest ranking ever achieved by a Chinese skateboarder at the World Championships.
Previously, the best result of a Chinese athlete at the World Skateboarding Championships was Zeng Wenhui's 18th place finish in 2021.
Born in 2009, Cui Chenxi is about to celebrate her 14th birthday, and her seven opponents in the women's street final on that day are all "post-05s", the youngest of which is Australia's "talented girl" Colwill, born in 2010, who was also a silver medalist at the last World Championships. In addition, Brazil's Leal and Japan's Nishiya Hana and other Olympic and World Championship podium regulars all entered the finals.
The final consists of two rounds of line moves and five big moves, and the highest round of line marks and two big moves are added together to get the total score of the players. Cui Chenxi made mistakes in the finishing action in both rounds of the line, which made her bottom of the points after the line was finished. In the big trick part, she missed the first four moves and didn't score, which also made her lose the possibility of improving her ranking. However, she successfully completed a difficult flip in the final round and scored 89.44, which was also the fourth-highest score in the day's big move session.
The medal race was fierce, with last year's world champion and Tokyo Olympic silver medallist Leal holding on to the lead until the third round of the big move, but Japan's Yumemi Oda then jumped to first place with a high score of 94.80. With Leal's final two attempts unsuccessful, Yumemi Oda claimed his first World Title.
Colwill scored more than 94 points in the fourth round, but missed out on the podium by less than a point. The bronze medal was won by Tokyo Olympic champion Nishiya Hana.
The men's top three were swept by Japanese players. Sora Shirai, Kairyu Nezuki and Tokyo Olympic champion Yuto Horigome won gold, silver and bronze medals, respectively.
The World Championships will also be a points race for the skateboarding street events at the Paris Olympics, with the top 44 men and women ranked in the final points race next March qualifying for the Olympic Qualification Series in Shanghai and Budapest, where it will be revealed who will travel to Paris.
At present, the Chinese team has 5 female players including Cui Chenxi and Zeng Wenhui ranked among the 44 finalists.