Olympic men’s street skateboarding: Japan’s Yuto Horigome takes gold – as it happened

So it’s a huge moment for Japan and for skateboarding, which showed that it’s capable of having a compelling competition even when we see a lot of skaters wiping out.

Thanks for watching with me. Enjoy the rest of your day if you’re in Japan or Australia, a happy morning to you all in Europe, and if you’re in the USA, go to bed.

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This is where it all happened ...

The local hero had two so-so runs but landed four great tricks.

Silver to Brazil’s Kelvin Hoefler.

Bronze to the USA’s Jagger Eaton.

Disappointment for Nyjah Huston, but that second run showed everyone what he can do.

Jagger Eaton needs something in the mid-nines to get into silver, but he misses spectacularly after a restart. He still has bronze. Giraud can’t catch him.

And Giraud misses anyway.

... will not medal. Such a pity ... he had the best score of the two runs and followed up with a 9.09 on his first trick. A 9.25 would’ve tied him with Eaton, who is now almost certain to medal.

He gets a nice round of applause and goes to hug Horigome. Like a lot of youth-oriented sports, these people are all such good sports.

Kelvin Hoefler walks up standing third but knowing Nyjah Huston can pass him with a half-decent last trick. And he comes through with a 9.34.

Now it’s up to Huston, trying to knock his countryman Eaton out of third. He can’t catch Hoefler or Hogigome.

Yuto Horigome has surely sealed it. It doesn’t seem like the most spectacular of tricks, but it’s perfectly executed, and it’s a 9.30. He gets to drop the 8.02 from his first run -- in fact, he’s only counting tricks and no runs. They’re all above 9. I don’t think anyone can catch him.

Vincent Milou can’t, even though he lands a nice 8.70, passing Caro for fourth.

Ribeiro achieves the feat of nothing the lowest score that isn’t a 0, simply riding the rail straight ahead for a 2.00. His pre-existing shoulder injury is surely hurting, but he finishes gamely.

Caro flips his board every direction at once (540 with a kickflip, we’re told), and somehow that’s only an 8.21. He wasn’t likely to get into contention anyway -- it would’ve taken something in the very high nines ...

FOURTH TRICK CONTINUED

Nyjah Huston is now in serious trouble. He restarts, then misses. He’s down to one trick, literally. He waves his hat to the crowd.

Eaton misses but is still in second place.

Giraud misses and isn’t in contention.

So with one trick left ...

1. Horigome 35.90
2. Eaton 35.35
3. Hoefler 34.39
4. Caro 31.55
5. Milou 30.98
6. Giraud 29.09
7. Huston 26.10 (only counting three scores)
8. Ribeiro 15.05 (only counting two scores)

Ribeiro’s efforts are literally painful now.

Caro leapfrogs the two French skaters with an 8.65.

Yuto Horigome ... yes! He actually looks happy, jogging off with a fist pump and a smile. 9.50, and he’s ahead of Eaton into first.

Milou misses with a thud and a yell. He has four scores that count, but he needs a big fifth trick to erase the 5.54 from his second run if he wants to contend.

Hoefler, the dominant skater of the two runs, just needs to land something to get medal contention. And he lands something for a 7.58, good for third. For now.

Jagger Eaton has all but sewn up a medal. I can’t even describe what he did, but it’s a 9.40, best score of the final. He’s far in front and will have two chances to erase his lowest score of 8.20.

Aurelien Giraud also lands one and is back in the thick of things with a 9.00. He has four scores, though one is a 4.21.

So four skaters have four scores: Eaton 35.35, Horigome 33.17, Milou 30.98, Giraud 29.09.

Third set of tricks

Ribeiro tries to flip his board after riding the rail, and he doesn’t land it. That’s three misses, which means he’ll have to count the 5.82 from his second run and surely won’t contend unless everyone else falls every time.

Horigome ... oh, that’s a good one. He’s the first person with four scores, and the lowest is the 6.77 from his second run. The highest is ... this trick, with 9.35. He’ll still need another good one to erase that 6.77, but we’ll see.

As the Bloc Party tune “Banquet” plays, Milou drops in, lands cleanly and takes an 8.34. That actually seems a bit low -- skater and board both sailed pretty high.

Hoefler ... can’t get that fourth score that counts. If he can land a solid trick, he’ll most likely be on the podium, but his frustration is palpable.

Huston ... oh dear. It looks precarious the whole time, and unleashes a “DAMMIT!” as he splatters to the ground.

Jennifer Oberhelman writes: “Great addition to the Olympics but coverage ended before the finals were over. Disappointing!” Check NBC’s site or any app on Roku, Amazon or whatever.

Second set of tricks ...

Ribeiro falls again.

Caro falls.

Horigome falls.

Milou stops his first attempt, then falls.

Hoefler walks down to a rail and rubs his board along it before starting, then falls.

Huston falls, yells and holds his shoulder.

Eaton ... 8.70! Smooth slide on the tail of the board. He’s up to third ahead of Horigome.

Giraud falls.

Well, you can’t say they’re holding back.

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We continue with the first set of tricks, and Hoefler is again seriously pondering his options. Drops in, rotates, rides the rail with the tail of the board, and lands facing the other way. 8.99

Nyjah Huston ... bends his knees, springs, flips the board on both axes, and lands with a broad smile and laugh. 9.09. He’s second overall behind Hoefler.

Eaton ... flips. When he lands. Basically an unintentional backward somersault. He’ll drop that one.

Giraud finally regains his form somewhat. It’s not the most spectacular of the tricks -- in fact, of the six that landed, it’s the lowest score at 8.68, but that’s a confidence builder.

After one trick: Hoefler 26.81, Huston 26.10, Horigome 23.82. That’ll change quickly when Eaton lands a trick or two.

The first set of tricks opens with Ribeiro outjumping his board. 0.00

Caro brings it with a 9.00.

Horigome rotates seamlessly onto the rail and lands in complete control. He looks disgusted. It’s 9.03. Not sure what it takes to make this guy happy.

Milou does one better. Well, 0.20 better. Sails high into the air, flips the board, lands cleanly on the rail and doesn’t wipe out at the end. He does put a hand down, which probably kept him to only a 9.23. That’s the best score in the competition so far.

With the five tricks to go ...

1. Hoefler (BRA) 17.82
2. Eaton (USA) 17.25
3. Huston (USA) 17.01
4. Horigome (JPN) 14.79
5. Caro (PER) 13.90
6. Milou (FRA) 13.41
7. Ribeiro (POR) 13.05
8. Giraud (FRA) 11.41

Jagger Eaton pumps his fist, holds up his index finger, lifts his shirt partway ... it’s a 9.05. The quality has taken a major jump up.

Aurelien Giraud has a shaky landing early. But he reaches into his bag of tricks and once again starts to look like the man we saw in qualifying. Until he wipes out in the center of the park, looks at his board with dismay, and walks away. Still gets a 7.20, like Simone Biles getting a big score after a fall just because the degree of difficulty is so high.

Nyjah Huston lays it down. The pre-Games hype has been fulfilled. He goes up a ramp to a rail it doesn’t seem like he can reach, and he slides so smoothly. That’s a 9.11. He’s still second with his two-run score behind Hoefler, but that’s the best run of the final. Beauty.

The second run continues with another accident. Vincent Milou, dressed like a painter, has a nice 360 jump during his run but waves off his run after landing in the seated position. That’s a 5.54.

Can Hoefler, the only man who has landed a clean run so far, do it again? He gestures toward someone as if sorting out what he wants to do -- maybe with a coach? Doesn’t look happy.

Then he just lands everything. It’s clean, it’s smooth, and he ends with a strong rotation onto a rail. 8.84, and he’s more than three points out in front with the big guns lined up and ready to go.

Gustavo Ribeiro walks away in disgust after a 5.82. Angelo Caro looks solid but unspectacular for a 6.89.

So it’s over to Horigome, the 2021 world champion and 2019 X Games champion skating in his hometown (originally, anyway -- like a lot of these guys, he lives in Southern California). He loses control of the board twice, the last time ending up on his backside. That’s a 6.77, and we’re off to a disappointing start here.

In case you cant watch, here’s a glimpse of what you’re missing:

Aurelien Giraud has about 20 good seconds, then goes splat. Dispirited, he makes a half-hearted effort at another trick that goes nowhere. Bails out. 4.21. That won’t do it.

So after one run: Hoefler 8.98, Eaton 8.20, Horigome 8.02, Huston 7.90. I thought Huston has the most spectacular run and the most spectacular fall.

Jagger Eaton comes out fast. Just flying. A neat little flip on the lip of the ramp is a nice touch, so he tries it again. This time, the board doesn’t go where he wants. Still only one run (Hoefler) that’s clean, but Eaton is the best of those who lost the board at some point, and that’s an 8.20. Second place. One more to go. (Again -- this is only the first of seven opportunities to impress the judges, and four of them count.)

Nyjah Huston said after qualifying that he had been saving some tricks for the final. He makes it look effortless. Some skaters have a “wow, how did I do that?” look, but he just seems ... OK, never mind. His last landing sends him onto his back, sliding across the concrete. It was a brilliant run until then, and he gets a 7.90. If that ends up as his fourth-best score, that won’t be so bad.

Brazil’s Kelvin Hoeffler took second in his home country in the 2018 world championships and won the 2017 X Games. And he nails this run. Good variety of tricks, complete control. First place with an 8.98.

Now we’re down to the two Americans and France’s Aurelien Giraud, who dominated in qualifying.

France’s Vincent Milou also comes off the board at one point but has a dazzling array of tricks, one after the other. Most skaters have been busy sliding on the rails, but he managed a 360 jump akin to what you’re used to seeing in the winters on snowboards. 7.87, second place for now.

Now it’s a Japanese favorite, Yuto Horigome, who slips a bit and tries to stay on ... tries ... tries ... nope, he comes off the board. The degree of difficulty is pretty high, though, and he gets an 8.02. Still seems distraught. Skateboarders here don’t seem to be masking their feelings the way you’d see from figure skaters smiling after falling all over the ice.

Angelo Caro of Peru looks smooth but just seems to lose some momentum toward the end for a 7.01. My non-expert take is that the score seems a little low.

FIRST UP: Gustavo Ribeiro of Portugal has a great run going, with one move sending the board flipping on both axes (I believe Tony Hawk told us that’s a “varial,” though he doesn’t like the term) and catching some air, which is less common in street than it is in park. But he has a bad landing -- in fact, it looks rather painful. He gets a solid 7.23.

And never mind -- USA (an NBC network) cuts away from 3x3 to show our sport of choice for the evening/morning/afternoon.

If you’re in the USA watching on USA Network, you may be getting antsy because a men’s 3x3 basketball game is running long thanks to a steady series of airballs by the Polish team, which once led. But you can go online and watch.

If you’re watching elsewhere in the world, feel free to tell me how, and I’ll pass on any advice you have.

Yes, the pioneer is there:

Don’t forget that you can write me at beau.dure.freelance@guardian.co.uk or “@” me at @duresport

Fifteen minutes and counting. Grab the caffeinated beverage of your choice or eat whatever the kids eat to stay awake.

OK, let’s get this straight ...

We’ll start with “runs,” where skaters will perform full-fledged routines incorporating the ramps, rails and jumps throughout the course. Each skater gets two.

Then we go to “tricks,” which are one-offs. Hop in, hop up onto a rail or go somewhere else, make that board move, and land it. If you’re into gymnastics, you could picture the “runs” as the floor exercise, albeit with a lot of obstacles, and the “tricks” as vaults. Each skater gets five of these.

So that’s seven total attempts to show whose skills pay the bills. Each skater drops three of those seven. Doesn’t matter if it’s a run or a trick.

For example, let’s look at the top three in qualifying:

Giraud had a 9.00 and 8.85 on his runs. Outstanding. He then hit an 8.63 on his first trick. That’s three scores that count, and they’re all great. So when he missed his next trick for 0.00, that wasn’t alarming. When he scored 8.94 on his third trick, he had four scores that count, all very high. The only way to improve that score was to do better than his lowest score so far, the 8.63 on his first trick. And he did, with a 9.09.

Eaton also had things down by his third trick. His runs were 8.58 and 8.52. He missed his first trick but landed his next two -- 7.95 and 8.63. That’s a good score that he made better with a 9.34 on his last trick.

Huston took the longer road. After a bobble midway through his first run, he got a 7.52. On his second, he saved his slip-up for the end of the run and got an 8.12. Then he missed his first two tricks.

So let’s take stock -- Huston had only two scores above 0 after four attempts to get some points. He needed to do something big with two of his next three. He started the bailout effort with an 8.66. Not bad. Then a stellar 9.13. That would’ve been enough for him to qualify, but he did better than that, finishing with an 8.96. That let him drop the 7.52 from his first run.

It’ll make sense when you see it. Really.

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The strangest part of the qualifying rounds was surely when a piece of the course popped loose during a run by the unfortunate Sora Shirai of Japan.

Shirai was given a restart and turned in a so-so run. He made up for it with three solid tricks but then couldn’t land either of his final efforts and finished ninth.

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If you figured this morning’s action would be easy work for the USA! USA! USA!, you’d be wrong. Yes, Americans took two out of the top three. But Nyjah Huston in particular had a few bobbles, stepping off his board on each of his two runs and botching his first two tricks (we’ll get to the format in a second) before coming through in the clutch. Fellow American Jagger Easton will take some satisfaction in his performance, and we’ll stop the Stones references there. (We also will NOT make a Maroon 5 reference. The music mix here has been classic / alt rock, with some pump-up Zeppelin tracks, the Police and, oddly enough, multiple songs by The Cure.

American Jake Ilardi let loose some words that were easily lip-read as he placed 11th, three places out of the final eight. Australian Shane O’Neill didn’t land any of his final four tricks and ranked 16th.

The breakout star was Frenchman Aurelien Giraud, who landed runs of 9.00 and 8.85 and tricks of 9.09 and 8.94. He was able to drop an 8.63 from his final tally and had no pressure at all to land his last trick, which he did not. He’s not coming into this as a total surprise, having finished fourth in the 2018 world championships, but he’s not an X Games podium regular.

Your final eight:

1. Aurelien Giraud (FRA)
2. Jagger Eaton (USA)
3. Nyjah Huston (USA)
4. Kelvin Hoefler (BRA)
5. Vincent Milou (FRA)
6. Yuto Horigome (JPN)
7. Angelo Caro Narvaez (PER)
8. Gustavo Ribeiro (POR)

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Good morning if you’re in Tokyo. Good evening, afternoon or whatever you choose to call it if you’re elsewhere.

We’re going to watch some skateboarding, and you have enough time to get up to speed with Tony Hawk. This is the street event, so all of his aerials won’t apply, but the first few tricks will give you an idea. The big difference here is that they’ll be adding rails, steps and other things that will make parents avert their eyes.

Final is due to start at 12:25 p.m. Sunday in Tokyo, which is 11:25 p.m. Saturday on the USA’s East Coast, prime time for California (appropriately enough), 1:25 p.m. Sunday in Sydney, 4:25 a.m. Sunday in London, and 3.287 parsecs wherever Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are now.

Beau will be here shortly, in the meantime here’s a preview of today’s action:

He has hosted Justin Bieber at his private skate park and guest-starred opposite Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in the TV show Ballers. Now, Nyjah Huston is aiming to become an Olympic champion as skateboarding makes its debut in Tokyo.

Medals are on offer in two disciplines at the Ariake Urban Sports Park. In street, competitors skate on outdoor furniture and obstacles such as handrails, benches and stairs. Park features lofty tricks in steep-sided bowls.

A formidable competitor in a mellow sport, Huston is the favourite to take gold in street and add to a reputation and record haul of victories that has brought him wealth and celebrity status. With six world titles and 12 X Games wins, the trophy room in the 26-year‑old’s ocean-facing Laguna Beach mansion is jammed.

Nor is there much room left on his skin, which is almost entirely covered in tattoos. Among the eclectic body art: the Grim Reaper, a lion’s skull, a pineapple, a ferret on a skateboard, a tombstone that reads “see ya soon” and a waffle. “What can I say?” he told GQ. “I love waffles.”

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