The woman from Maranhão was brave and got back up physically and psychologically after falling and crying, but, in the last maneuver, she got injured and said goodbye to her attempt to win another gold.
Rayssa Leal said goodbye to her attempt to win another gold in the Skate Street World Cup this Sunday (8), in São Paulo. The woman from Maranhão was brave and got back up physically and psychologically when she fell and cried, but in the last maneuver she got hurt and took 4th place. Ibuki Matsumoto was the grand champion.
From the semifinals to the decision, the eight best skaters qualified. Each was entitled to three 45-second laps and three maneuvers. The presentations began in ascending order on Saturday. In other words, Rayssa was the penultimate to perform in the first heat. When her turn came, she fell, stayed on the ground for a while and worried everyone at Parque Cândido Portinari. But he got up, despite having obtained the lowest score in the first round (11.80).
The eastern rivals raised their level, which put pressure on the silver medalist in Tokyo-2020 and bronze in Paris-2024. Rayssa took off her Brazilian team t-shirt and was filmed making ‘get out, zica’ gestures. The woman from Maranhão regained her calm, performed good maneuvers and scored a score of 63.71, jumping to the top positions, with one lap remaining for the best score.
Rayssa went into the third lap focused and confident. He performed extremely safely, but fell down the railing with just a few seconds to go. She did not improve her grade and remained in 3rd position. The woman from Maranhão even cried because of this. As she was considerably behind leader Matsumoto, she knew she needed to perform practically flawlessly in the maneuvers.
MANEUVERS
The Brazilian went to the second phase with 63.71, while Matsumoto had 73.26. At this stage, only the best score of the three attempts in a single maneuver was included in the overall sum. And the opponents started betting big, with Nakayama landing a spectacular maneuver that earned him an 82.67 right away.
The feeling of relief came to Rayssa on the first attempt. The cry of concern gave way to a smile of relief when she nailed the descent onto the railing, which earned her a score of 79.83. However, it was still not enough to look for gold. To do so, you would have to score at least 89 in the two remaining chances.
On the second descent, Rayssa fell to the ground again. The pressure for the last maneuver even increased when Onishi moved up to 2nd place and pushed Rayssa to 4th. In the last and decisive attempt, she fell again and ended up on the ground, worrying everyone watching. Rayssa had to be helped by a doctor and consoled by her friend and fellow skateboarder Letícia Bufoni. Finally, Japanese Ibuki Matsumoto was the champion.
*Estadão Content
