Tokyo 2020 – Sky Brown: Team GB’s 13-year-old skateboarder clinches thrilling bronze in park final

ByMichael Hincks

Updated 04/08/2021 at 07:12 GMT

Sky Brown is Team GB’s youngest ever summer Olympian, and the 13-year-old is now a bronze medallist after finishing third in the park skateboarding final. Brown beat world champion Misugu Okamoto, while it was Sakura Yosozumi who took gold and Kokona Hiraki the silver. You want it? We have it. Stream every Olympic event live on discovery+.

Team GB’s teenage sensation Sky Brown picked up bronze in the park skateboarding final to deny Japan a clean sweep of the medals and write her name into the record books.

The 13-year-old was already making history at Tokyo 2020 as the youngest British Olympian at a Summer Games, and she held her nerve during the final run to post 56.47 and earn a brilliant bronze - making her GB's youngest-ever Olympic medallist.

Sakura Yosozumi, 19, won gold with a 60.09 enough to beat 12-year-old Kokona Hiraki, who took a sensational silver, while it was agony for 15-year-old world champion Misugu Okamoto, who stumbled in each run and finished fourth overall.

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Already an X Games gold medallist, Brown – who also won bronze at the 2019 worlds and is ranked third in the world– can add an Olympic bronze to her collection after a breathless final saw her in and out of the medal positions before eventually beating Okamoto.

Watch every episode of ‘Reaching the Sky’ on Discovery+

The essence of park skateboarding is to score as highly as possible (on a scale of 0-100) by performing tricks either mid-air or along the coping of the hollowed-out course, and in the final each skateboarder had three 45-second runs with only their best score determining where they ranked.

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The skaters went out in reverse order, meaning Brown – who scored 57.40 in qualifying – was second last and Okamoto the only athlete going after her.

This gave Brown a chance to put the pressure on her rival, but before the pair went out it was world No 2 Yosozumi who lay down the marker as back-to-back 540s helped her post 60.09 in her opening run.

Hiraki, 12, almost matched her with a 58.05, and afterwards Brown took to the course and recorded a 47.53 when she couldn’t quite land a kickflip indy.

Okamoto stumbled too and was only able to record 20.68 in her first run, but despite the low score it looked clear Brown would be competing for the medals against the Japanese trio.

Leader Yosozumi could not better her score in her second run, while Hiraki was marginally behind the top score when posting 59.04.

‘It is just insane!’ – Brown after Olympic debut

It was then Brown’s turn once more, and she could not stick the kickflip indy for a second time as a score of 47.37 was just 0.2 off her first run.

Brown remained in the bronze medal position, but world No 1 Okamoto then replaced her in third, although her 53.58 could have been more had she landed the kickflip indy herself.

That made it a Japanese 1-2-3 heading into the final run, and with Yosozumi unable to improve on her 60.09, it was then down to Hiraki, Brown and Okamoto to push her out of the gold medal spot.

Reaching the Sky Episode 1: Origins - Sky Brown's rise to become Britain's youngest ever athlete

Hiraki fell early but remained in second, and it was then all eyes on Brown for her final run.

Brown landed the kickflip indy at the third time of asking, and a 540 to finish helped her post 56.47 to move into third with just Okamoto to go.

It was heartbreak for Okamoto as she was unable to land her big trick once again, and that meant Brown did enough for bronze while Yosozumi claimed a historic gold.

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Watch every episode of ‘Reaching the Sky’ on Discovery+ after Sky Brown made Team GB history at Tokyo 2020

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