Brazil's Leal makes the street skateboarding finals despite a tough start to the Paris Olympics

PARIS (AP) — Rayssa Leal's quest for a second Olympic medal in women's street skateboarding was almost dashed Sunday at the Paris Olympics.

But the 16-year-old from Brazil rallied from a tough start to finish seventh among eight women who advanced to the finals Sunday evening.

The event, held at the outdoor venue of La Concorde Urban Park, was the first of this year’s skateboarding competition after the men’s street competition was postponed from Saturday to Monday because of rain.

Leal became the youngest Brazilian ever to participate in the Olympics when she won silver at just 13 when the event debuted in the Tokyo Olympics.

Leal appeared to be fighting back tears after falling on both of her runs to start the competition and scored just 59.88 on her best run. But she wowed after that, landing tricks on three of her five chances to soar up the leaderboard. She earned the only score over 90 in the preliminary round with a kickflip backside lipside that earned her a 92.68 and caused the crowd to go wild.

“I was upset with the runs, getting to the point where it counts and not getting it right, I get sad,” she said. “But that’s how championships are. I’ll go to the final more relaxed. We know how big this competition is.”

Leal, who amassed 6.6 million Instagram followers after her breakout performance in Tokyo, bowed and waved to the crowd when she finished her last trick in the prelims. She had an overall score of 241.43.

Funa Nakayama, the bronze medalist in Tokyo, finished fifth in the preliminary round with a score of 245.52.

World No. 1 Coco Yoshizawa of Japan scored a 258.92 to lead the preliminary round. Yoshizawa scored an 83.59 on her first run — the second-best score on a run in the round.

“I was nervous at first, but once I started skating, I felt much more relaxed and enjoyed myself,” she said. “I was able to perform my best form.”

World No. 2-ranked Liz Akama, also of Japan, was in second place with 257.99 in the first round. Her 86.55 was the best run score of the round.

She was followed by Cui Chenxi of China and Chloe Covell of Australia, who are both 14.

Also advancing were Americans Paige Heyn in sixth place with a score of 244.29 and Poe Pinson in eighth with a 241.12.

France’s Lucie Schoonheere didn’t make the cut, finishing 11th with a 228.05, but she was a crowd favorite. At 14, she was the youngest competitor on the French Olympic team at Paris.

“At the beginning you could see I was super stressed,” she said. “I fell on my first run but after that, I was able to get into the game and it helped me a lot.”

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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games