Tokyo Olympics: Japan's 13-year-old Momiji Nishiya claims first gold in women's skateboarding

From left, silver medalist Rayssa Leal of Brazil, gold medalist Momiji Nishiya of Japan, center, and bronze medalist Funa Nakayama of Japan. (AP Photo)

Japan's 13-year-old Momiji Nishiya won her first-ever women's street skateboarding gold at Ariake Park on Monday. In the inaugural Olympics street skateboarding competition, two of the youngest competitors at the Olympic Games won the gold and silver.

The gold medallist, Momiji, wrote her name into the history books with a score of 15.26. Her final three runs (4.15, 4.66, and 3.43) were enough to secure the top spot on the podium, as she beat Brazil`s Rayssa Leal, also 13, and 16-year-old Funa Nakayama to gold in what is believed to be the youngest Olympic podium ever as per Olympics.com.

Momiji, who won a silver medal at the 2021 world championships in Rome, has now secured the ultimate prize in the sport after her unique blend of trickery, skill and consistency saw her triumph in a tense final that went all the way down to the final run.Rayssa Leal, who is not only Brazil's youngest-ever medallist but also an Olympian, won silver with a score of 14.64 with Nakayama the bronze medallist with 14.49.

But the day belonged to Nishiya, whose name goes down in the record books as the first female skateboarder to strike gold at an Olympics and the second skateboarder, after men's winner Yuto Horigome's heroics on Sunday, to win gold in the sport for Japan.