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Momiji Nishiya
Photo: Marijan Murat / dpa
At the Olympic premiere in skateboarding, there was a Japanese double victory: Momiji Nishiya, who was only 13 years old, won gold in the street discipline after her compatriot Yuto Horigome had won the men's competition the day before.
A Japanese woman, 16-year-old Funa Nakayama, also won bronze.
Silver also secured a 13-year-old, the Brazilian Rayssa Leal just missed the record for the youngest gold medalist at summer games.
At 13 years and 116 days, she would have replaced US swimmer Marjorie Gestring, who won gold in Berlin in 1936 at the age of 13 years and 269 days.
Nishiya will be 14 years old on August 30th.
The favored Brazilians Leticia Bufoni and Pamela Rosa were eliminated in the preliminary stages on Monday morning.
In 2017, 28-year-old Bufoni was the first female skater to be awarded a professional contract and, like world number one Rosa, was considered a gold contender in the Ariake Urban Sports Park.
In the Ariake Sports Park, the skateboarders had to complete two runs of 45 seconds each and demonstrate five tricks on a course with obstacles, each of which was assessed separately.
The day before, the Japanese Yuto Horigome had won the men's competition in the street.
Skateboarding was included in the Olympic competition program for the first time for the Tokyo Games.
The Germans Tyler Edtmayer and Lilly Stoephasius will compete in the other skateboard discipline Park on August 4th (women) and August 5th (men).
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