Olympics | Australia's Trew takes women's skateboarding gold, China's 11-year-old Zheng makes Olympic debut

PARIS, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- Australia's Arisa Trew claimed the gold medal in skateboarding women's park event, while China's 11-year-old Zheng Haohao made her Olympic debut, finishing 18th in the preliminaries.

As the youngest athlete in China's delegation at Paris 2024, Zheng made her Olympic debut just five day shy of her 12th birthday.

Competing in the second group of the preliminaries, Zheng showed a steady performance on her first run, scoring 63.19 points. Encouraged by this baseline score, she attempted more difficult tricks in her second and third runs, but failed in both, placing her 18th in the preliminaries and missing the final.

Despite her early exit, Zheng, who has just graduated from elementary school, expressed that she had a "great time" on the Olympic stage.

"I am very happy and proud to represent my country," Zheng said after the competition. She earned her spot in the Olympics by scoring 72.6 points at the Olympic qualifying series in Budapest at the end of June.

Reflecting on her Olympic debut, Zheng said she felt no pressure. "The Olympics are not much different from my usual practice and competitions, just with more spectators," she remarked.

The top eight skaters from the preliminaries advanced to the finals after a morning of competition among 22 skateboarders.

In the finals, Japan's Cocona Hiraki, the Tokyo 2020 silver medalist, led the first round with a score of 91.98.

Despite strong performances from Trew and Britain's Sky Brown in the second round, Hiraki maintained her lead.

However, in the crucial third round, 14-year-old Trew, wearing her signature pink helmet, delivered a flawless performance that wowed the judges and earned her a score of 93.18, securing a dramatic victory.

Hiraki claimed the silver medal with her third-round score of 92.63, while Brown took the bronze with 92.31 points in her final run.