PARIS — Japan’s Yuto Horigome is a back-to-back Olympic gold medalist in men’s street skateboarding after scoring a nearly perfect 97.08 on his fifth and final trick Monday to pass Americans Jagger Eaton and Nyjah Huston.
Horigome finished 0.1 points ahead of Eaton, who despite a brilliant showing had to settle for silver. Huston took home the bronze, still an improvement after a disappointing seventh-place finish three years ago in Tokyo when skateboarding made its Olympic debut.
The 25-year-old Horigome came up empty on his second, third and fourth tricks then stunned the crowd on his final attempt. Hutson and Eaton each wiped out on his fifth chance, making Horigome an Olympic champion again.
Snoop Dogg, who has quickly become one of the celebrity faces of the Paris Games, was in attendance and gave Huston some well-deserved appreciation. Huston nailed his second run with a Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg song playing on the speakers around La Concorde Urban Park.
It did not turn out to be a winning anthem for the U.S. skateboarder, after Horigome’s final jump flipped the script at nearly the last minute.
This competition was scheduled for Saturday, but the same rain that soaked the opening ceremony down the Seine River continued…
