History-makers! Skateboarding and Surfing break new ground in Tokyo as both sports enjoy their Olympic debuts on day two of the Games
History was made on day two of the Tokyo Games as both skateboarding and surfing made their Olympic debuts.
Both sports were added as part of a revamp of the sporting entry lists in a bid to bring in younger audiences.
Skateboarding made its mark early on Sunday morning with the heats for the men’s street event kicking off its inaugural Olympics.
The sport will enjoy four days of competition in the blazing heat of Tokyo.
All eyes will be on Team USA’s Nyjah Huston and Japanese favourite Yuto Horigome, who will skate on a concrete course designed with rails and benches emblazoned with the five Olympic rings.
Skateboarding caught the eye as the sport made its Olympic Games debut on Sunday morning
Surfing caused a splash on its own debut as the world’s best went to Tsurigasaki Surfing Beach
There was also a splash being made with another new sport for this Games cycle as surfing got its first action.
Four of the world’s top male surfers made history on Sunday morning at the Tsurigasaki Surfing Beach, with Brazil’s Italo Ferreira emerging victorious from the first heat.
‘I’m so stoked, it’s a special event and I’ve been training a lot these last couple of months, I’m so glad to be here,’ he told reporters after edging out Hiroto Ohhara, Leonardo Fioravanti and Leandro Usuna to qualify directly for the third round.
Sunday morning’s swell of waves offered the power the inaugural quartet was looking for to showcase the best side of their sport.
The skateboarding street competition has been created to mimick conditions of the streets with stair-sets, handrails, benches and slopes to use and do tricks on
All eyes have been fixed on Team USA’s Nyjah Huston as he leads the nation’s medal hopes
There was some discussion as to whether it was Ferreira or Argentina’s Usuna that caught the first Olympic wave, but as the heat wore on the Brazilian world number one showed his class.
‘That was a terrible (first) wave!’ Ferreira laughed.
‘I did two turns and on the last one I fell, (but) I tried to catch a lot of waves and put scores on the board.’
With the stronger waves perfectly suited to his air game Ferreira attacked aggressively, carving into each wave from right to left across the beach and launching into late spins that impressed the judges.
‘Compared to the last couple of days, today was really fun – more waves, more opportunity, and I hope tomorrow we can have more waves and we can create something quite different,’ Ferreira said.
Stronger waves caused havoc in the men’s surfing but there were some standout performers
France’s Jeremy Flores looked to keep his composure on the board in the men’s round heat