Paris Olympics 2024: Sky Brown wins bronze in women's skateboarding park final despite shoulder injury going into Games
By Flo Clifford
Updated 06/08/2024 at 22:30 GMT+1
Arisa Trew, 14, took Australia's first medal in women's skateboarding with gold in the women's park final, as Team GB's Sky Brown doubled up on her bronze from Tokyo 2020 with another third-placed finish. Japan's Cocona Hiraki, silver medallist in the 2020 Games, picked up another silver in Paris, knocking Brown down a spot with the final run of the day.
'Incredible to watch' - GB's Brown takes bronze as skateboarding park medallists celebrate
Video credit: TNT Sports
Sky Brown was Team GB’s youngest-ever medallist when she took bronze in the women’s skateboarding park in Tokyo 2020, and she made it back-to-back bronze medals at Place de la Concorde on Tuesday.
An MCL tear had derailed much of her preparation for the 2024 Games before she dislocated her shoulder on the eve of flying out to Paris.
But the 16-year-old put together a string of smooth, stylish runs to improve on her fourth place in the preliminaries and earn a well-deserved medal despite an injury-addled year.
Australia’s Arisa Trew had qualified sixth of eight but saved her best till last, producing a stunning run packed with difficulty to soar into the gold medal position in the final run of the day.
Her final run scored 93.18 and none of the remaining competitors could better that, with the silver medallist from Tokyo 2020, Cocona Hiraki, taking back-to-back silvers with 92.63 and pushing Brown down the standings.
Brown hit the deck just after the buzzer sounded in her first run but improved in both her second and third runs, scoring 91.60 and 92.31.
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11-year-old skateboarder makes impressive Olympic bow in park event
Video credit: TNT Sports
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World number one Hiraki had qualified with the best score and was in provisional first place after the first run, becoming the first to break the 90 mark with 91.98 in a high-quality final, but once again had to settle for silver.
Trew had made history as the first woman to ever land a 720 and then the first to land a 900 - two and a half rotations in the air - and the 14-year-old had been one of the overwhelming favourites to take gold in Paris.
She fell on her opening run but moved into provisional third with a clean second run, before pulling out all the stops in her final run, opening with back-to-back 540s.
The Aussie had a nervous wait while the five remaining competitors completed their final runs, but no-one had an answer to her hugely technical performance.
Brown had fallen in the preliminaries, landing hard on the shoulder she dislocated in her final qualifying run after an audacious trick.
The 16-year-old lay on the concrete for a minute before dad Stu helped her gingerly to her feet.
"I try to enjoy every moment. I feel good, I'm just happy to be here I didn't know if I was going to be able to be here," Brown told Eurosport after the preliminaries.
"I'm stoked to be here, to show my skating as best as I can right now. On my last run I felt my shoulder a little bit and that was a little scary, I don't want it to get worse. I'm already going to have to get surgery after this. I just want to put my best out there and fight through it."
And fight through it she did, with her shoulder appearing unaffected by the scare in the final and putting in three excellent runs.
Team GB's Lola Tambling failed to make the final, finishing 11th in Tuesday's qualifying, while Japan’s defending Olympic champion Sakura Yosozumi was one of the biggest casualties of the error-strewn preliminaries.
She finished fifth in the first heat and was eventually pushed down to 10th, outside the qualifying places, while French hopefuls Nana Taboulet and Emilie Alexandre also did not reach the final.
discovery+ is the streaming home of the Olympic Games, and the only place you can watch every moment of Paris 2024 this summer.
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