EQUIPPED WITH her swagger and composure, Margielyn Didal continued to make history for the Philippines as she managed to land a seventh-place finish in the Olympic Women’s Street Skateboarding event. A newly introduced Olympic sport, the Women’s Street Skateboarding event was held earlier today at the Ariake Urban Sports Park.

The world-ranked no. 17 Didal booked her ticket to the finals after placing seventh out of 20 competitors in the preliminary rounds with a total score of 12.02. Her preliminary performance was highlighted by an impressive 50-50 grind to a tree flip line as her final trick.

In the final round, Didal—who brought home the inaugural 2018 Asian Games’ gold in the women’s street event—tallied 2.33 and 2.22 in her first and second runs respectively. This proved to be enough to grab the sixth spot in the standings after the run phase.

However, Didal was left limping due to a momentary injury scare after falling off the rails in her failed first attempt of the final rounds’ tricks section. Showcasing her resilience, the 2019 Southeast Asian Games double gold medalist etched a 2.97 via a nose grind as her second trick. Didal unfortunately missed on her last three attempts in the tricks phase after battling through an apparent ankle injury.

With a final score of 7.52, Didal ultimately ranked seventh among eight competitors in the finals stage. 13-year-old Japanese prodigy Momiji Nishiya grabbed the gold, while Brazil’s 13-year-old Rayssa Leal and Japan’s 16-year-old Funa Nakayama settled for silver and bronze, respectively.