Japanese skateboarder Nishiya wins women's street gold at Tokyo Olympics

TOKYO, July 26 (Xinhua) -- The 13-year-old Japanese skateboarder Momiji Nishiya won the women's street final here on Monday, becoming the world's first female Olympic skateboarding champion.

Scoring 15.26 points in the final, the 2021 world silver medalist became the youngest Japanese Olympic champion at the age of 13 years and 330 days.

"I'm very, very delighted. Very happy to be an Olympic champion," said Nishiya, who almost burst into tears when being confirmed the winner.

"I've never experienced that level of emotions. That was the best joy I ever had."

Japanese skateboarders have won both golds in street competitions, as Yuto Horigome dominated the men's category on Saturday.

Brazil's world No. 2 Rayssa Leal, also 13, took the silver with 14.64 points and Funa Nakayama added a bronze for Japan 0.15 points behind Leal.

China's 16-year-old Zeng Wenhui finished sixth with 9.66 points. She successfully repeated her Kickflip 50-50, which contributed to her qualification, earning a game-best 4.93 points, but that was the only trick she made in the final.

Zeng told reporters that she had shown what she got, but it was a pity she failed her kickflip 5-0 in the last attempt.

"It was a backup plan actually, but I decided I would do it to strike for a podium finish. It's the last chance and a simple trick wouldn't work," she said.

Being part of the Olympic debut for the sport, the teenager said falling was no big thing at the games, as "you can always get up and try again. Skateboarding is about always trying new tricks."

Brazil world No. 1 Pamela Rosa and six-time X Games champion Leticia Bufoni surprisingly crashed out in the preliminaries. Japan's reigning world champion Aori Nishimura tailed the eight-woman table in the final.

In Olympic skateboarding, athletes perform two 45-second runs and five tricks. The best four scores from runs or tricks will be added to give the total round score.