Tricks ‘Save Rayssa Leal and Secure Another Podium in Paris 2024
After a scare in the qualifying round, when she was at risk of being eliminated early, Rayssa Leal opted for a more conservative first round to secure a higher score and then took more risks in the second to increase her score. The strategy, however, worked partially.
She managed to score 71.66 points in her first round, even making a mistake in her performance. In the second round, however, she did not do well and fell off the skateboard, leaving her in fifth place temporarily. With 15 points behind the leader and eight points behind third place, she needed – once again – to go big on her tricks.
She went blank in the first attempt, but in the second she achieved an incredible 92.88 points, until then the highest score in the history of women’s street skateboarding in the Olympics (Yoshizawa Coco would later achieve 96.49). However, she needed one more solid trick and ended up making mistakes in her third and fourth attempts.
In her last performance, however, she reached 88.83 points and relied, above all, on the falls of American Paige Heyn (who completed only one trick) and Japanese Nakayama Funa (bronze in Tokyo 2020, but who did not complete any of her five attempts) to secure her spot on the podium.