Tokyo Olympics: skater Sky Brown gets bronze as Kokona Hiraki becomes youngest medallist at these Games

Silver medal for 12-year-old Kokona Hiraki as 13-year-old Brown snares third in final run

First Olympics women’s park medal goes to 19-year-old Sakura Yosozumi in impressive display at Ariake Urban Sports Park

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Japan‘s Kokona Hiraki (silver), Japan’s Sakura Yosozumi (gold) and Britain’s Sky Brown (bronze) celebrate their medals after the women’s skateboarding park final at the Tokyo Olympics. Photo: Gettyimages

Published: 1:27pm, 4 Aug 2021Updated: 9:32pm, 4 Aug 2021

If this is the future then the Olympics are in good hands. That’s the lesson from the women’s skateboarding park final in Tokyo, where the event’s first-ever medals were handed out at its Games debut.

There was drama as 13-year-old Sky Brown shredded her way into the medals with a resounding third and final run, preventing the hosts enjoying all three spots on this first Olympic podium.

Brown – who decided to compete for Britain over Japan, the country of her birth – posted a score of 56.47 to move up from fourth place.

Her bronze run capped a remarkable comeback, not least because the teenager suffered a fall in training last June that left her with a fractured skull and was “lucky to be alive”.

Britain‘s Sky Brown competes in the Tokyo Olympic Games. Photo: Gettyimages

“I’m so happy. I fell twice [trying the kickflip indy] and I was like, ‘That’s kinda sketchy’, so I was like, ‘I gotta make it‘. And I didn’t really think I was going to make it but I did it, and I’m so happy,” Brown said.