China sweeps women's park podium at Asian Skateboarding Championships

CHENGDU, April 12 (Xinhua) -- Meng Lingyan led China to a podium sweep in the women's park at the 2026 Asian Skateboarding Championships in Meishan, southwest China's Sichuan Province, on Sunday, while South Korea claimed two street golds.

In the park final, eight skaters each completed three runs, with the top five advancing for a fourth run. Each skater's best run counted towards their score.

Meng scored 87.97 points in her first run to take the lead, then improved to 88.32 points in her second run. China's national champion Zou Mingke raised her score to 85.27 points in her third run, overtaking compatriot and Olympian Zheng Haohao, who had posted 83.50 points in her second attempt.

All five skaters failed to improve in the fourth and final run, as Meng clinched her first-ever international title. Zou and Zheng completed the podium.

"I felt really good today. I completed all the tricks and routes I had planned," said 12-year-old Meng, who has set her sights high. "I want to compete at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics."

In the men's park final, the gold was contested among Chinese skaters Wu Bowen and Chen Ye, as well as Gu Jiahuan of Hong Kong, China. After three rounds, the three occupied the top three positions.

In the fourth round, Gu climbed to first place with a score of 87.69. Chen then stepped up, increasing his difficulty and executing a clean run to score 88.70. Wu, skating last, failed to improve his score and finished third. Chen took gold, while Gu got silver.

"The fourth run was a real gamble, but I decided to go for it," said Chen, the Asian Games gold medalist in 2023. "My opponents are so strong, so I just had to push myself."

South Korea's Lee Jun-seung and Shin Ji-yul claimed the men's and women's street golds, respectively, while the silvers went to China's Wang Tengzhe and Zhu Yuanling.

Running from April 7 to 12, the Asian Skateboarding Championships is the first standalone continental championship for skateboarding in Asia, featuring 11 events in men's and women's street, park and Games of SKATE.