Japan’s Yuto Horigome saved the best for last to defend his title in the men’s street skating event at the Paris Olympics on Monday, July 29.

Horigome scored a near-perfect 97.08 points on his fifth and final trick on Monday, moving past Americans Jagger Eaton and Nyjah Huston to take the gold medal.

The electric atmosphere during Monday’s final at the city’s La Concorde sports complex was in stark contrast to the empty stands when Horigome won on home soil three years ago.

“It means everything,” Horigome said, according to The Associated Press. “It feels like a dream, a living dream. It’s crazy. Tokyo, there was no one, no audience, so I’m very happy this time (with) all the fans here. It’s a special moment.”

Horigome finished with 281.14 points, just 0.1 points ahead of Eaton. Huston took bronze, an improvement after a disappointing seventh place in Tokyo.

Yuto Horigome finishes strong

Rain forced the postponement of the men’s street skate event that was supposed to take place on Saturday. The final on Monday was clear to a nearly full house that included American rapper Snoop Dogg.

The 25-year-old Horigome, born in Tokyo, had no advantage on his second, third and fourth shots, but then managed a spectacular nollie 270 nosebluntside to jump from seventh to first place.

Huston and Eaton blew their fifth and final chance, allowing Hirogome to once again become Olympic champion.

“When he did that, all I thought was ‘s—,'” Eaton said, according to ESPN. “‘S—.’ I knew with that trick score, if he hit the ball, he was going to win.”

Another day, another skateboarding gold for Japan

Horigome added to the dominance of Japanese street skating in Paris after Coco Yoshizawa and Liz Akama won gold and silver respectively in the women’s event the day before.

Japanese world champion Sora Shirai finished fourth in the men’s final, just missing out on a podium finish after failing to land the last of his five tricks.

Skateboarding made its debut at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, with Japan dominating the sport, taking home three gold, one silver and one bronze medal.

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Author: Jim Armstrong

The author is a long-serving journalist who has been covering sports in Japan for over 25 years. You can read his articles on SportsLook.