Prince Khalid wins gold at Skate Champs opener in Sharjah as Aurélien Giraud and Raisa Leal have ‘amazing first week’
SHARJAH: French skateboarder Aurelien Giraud has won the men’s Street 2022 World Championships at the Aljada Skate Park in Sharjah, while 15-year-old Ressa Leal from Brazil won gold in the women’s event.
The Street & Park World Championships is being organized by World Skate and UAE-based master developer Arda.
Both the events, which run till February 12 at Sharjah’s Aljada Skate Park, serve as qualifiers for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
Prince Khalid bin Alwaleed, Vice Chairman, said, “We have had a fantastic first week and as you would expect from the World Championships, the standard has been incredibly high, the support has been loud and colourful, and emotions have been high. ” Arda, the developer of the new competition venue.
“During the street finals, as you have seen, it was exciting to see Aurélien Giraud of France and Ressa Leal of Brazil win the gold medals in the men’s and women’s events respectively. Judging by the tears and the celebrations, it was clear that for them How much does a win mean in Sharjah, and it was a really interesting contest.
“From a wider perspective, this has been a truly multicultural event, involving spectators and athletes from 63 countries around the world, most of whom are traveling to the Middle East for the first time,” he said. “We have received very positive feedback from athletes, fans and our partners at World Skate.”
A dramatic Sunday at Main Street saw Giraud out of medal position entering the trick section of the final on his fourth attempt, where a stunning backside 360 claimed 91.48 points and, ultimately, gold. Portugal’s Gustavo Ribeiro earned silver with 267.38 points – not enough to beat Giraud’s total of 269.33 – while 12-year-old Japanese sensation Onodera Ginwo took bronze through his score of 263.04.
The women’s final proved incredibly close, with Leal – whose top run of 83.32 was combined with best trick scores of 85.04 and 87.22 – earning 255.58 points to claim gold. This was enough to edge out 12-year-old Australian Chloe Cowell’s 253.51 and Japan’s Momiji Nishiya’s 253.30 to settle for silver and bronze. Even more impressively, Leal won despite heavy strapping on a wrist injury he sustained during a fall in practice earlier in the week.
With the street competition coming to an end, the action quickly moved on to the Parks Championship, and Prince Khalid believes both events will have a long-lasting impact on the sport in the region.
“These championships have already seen impressive coverage around the world and have really helped put Sharjah and Aljada on the map as a new heavyweight destination for skateboarding globally,” he added. “The park competition is now underway, ending on Sunday 12 February, so the eyes of the skateboarding world are still very much on the UAE.”
“Skateboarding is one of the fastest growing sports globally, but I think it’s fair to say that the bigger competitions usually take place in North and South America, Australia, Europe and Japan, where the sport is already famous and popular.” Prince Khalid said. “For any sport to become truly global, it needs to come to places like the Middle East, and that is exactly what we have done with these events.”
Prince Khalid said the competitions are just the beginning for Arda, and he looks forward to continuing the developer’s partnership with World Skate in the near future.
“A major focus for us going forward will be improving the numbers of local skaters,” he added. “While we had great representation from Bahrain, Oman and Morocco, the presence of a world class facility like Aljada Skate Park is really going to help local skaters take the next step to compete at the highest level and maybe even That she might even stand on the podium one day.
Prince Khalid also expressed his happiness on handing over their medals to the winners in Sharjah. “From a personal perspective, my work at the Saudi Sports for All Federation gives me lots of opportunities to get involved with athletics at all levels; I don’t think there’s anything more invigorating than that,” he said.
“To award medals to these globally relevant athletes, apart from in our community, I am extremely proud. Seeing everyone on the ground living this huge moment together is what building communities is really about.
Prince Khalid said, “To date, Aljada has welcomed thousands of people to watch the Olympic Skateboarding qualifiers, and the athletes felt our energy, knew we were rooting for them and held their breath during the toughest segments. were stopping.”
Final Points Results of Men’s Street 2022 World Championships:
Aurelien Giraud, 269.33 (France)
Gustavo Ribeiro, 267.38 (Portugal)
Ginwo Onodera, 263.04 (Japan)
Kelvin Hoeffler, 248.59 (Brazil)
Richard Turey, 245.52 (Slovakia)
Jagger Eaton, 179.15 (USA)
Chris Joslin, 179.08 (USA)
Sora Shirai, 155.78 (Japan)
Final Results of Women’s Street 2022 World Championships:
Raisa Leal, 255.58 (Brazil)
Chloe Cowell, 253.51 (Aus)
Momiji Nishiya, 253.30 (Japan)
Rizu Akama, 251.91 (Japan)
Funa Nakayama, 240.79 (Japan)
Gabriela Mazzetto, 221.45 (Brazil)
Paige Hein, 211.71 (USA)
Pamela Rosa, 126.52 (Brazil)