Margielyn Didal ended her gallant Olympic run after placing seventh place in the final of the women's street skateboarding in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics at the Ariake Urban Sports Park Monday, July 26.
Didal, who was constantly in rank six, fell to seventh after three straight scoreless tricks starting in the third with an overall score of 7.52.
Since then, the 2018 Asian Games gold medalist began limping as she walks away from the center park with a huge smile on her face, shrugging off the pain from bad falls.
Didal had safe runs though, scoring 2.33 and 2.22 respectively before finally landing her lone trick in the second frame courtesy of a finesse nosegrind down the rail.
"This is for the country. I'm really proud to represent the Philippines," said Didal, who earlier advanced to the final after placing seventh overall in the preliminary heats.
It was a youthful domination in the street skateboarding event as Momiji Nishiya, 13, of Japan (world No. 5) captured the gold medal, Rayssa Leal, 13, of Brazil (world No. 2) grabbed the silver, and another Japanese in Funa Nakayama, 16, (world No.11) took home the bronze.
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In the preliminary heats, Didal, ranked No. 17 in the world and No. 5 in Asia, scored a total of 12.02 as the third and last tricks proved to be instrumental for her ticket en route to the medal contention.
The 22-year-old Cebuana actually ranked third overall after her performance, next to Roos Zwetsloot of the Netherlands and two-time World Skateboarding Championships gold medalist Aori Nishishimura of Japan.
But the leaderboard was shaken in Heat 3 after Nakayama and Nishiya put themselves at the top, placing first and second respectively.
Likewise, Heat 4 also pushed down Didal as Leal secured third place while Wenhui Zeng of China ranked sixth.
Completing the Top 8 cast, in order, are Nakayama, Nishiya, Leal, Zwetsloot (world No. 7), Nishimura (world No. 3), Zeng (world No. 21), Didal, and American Alexis Sablone (world No. 12)
In a surprising turn of events, top Brazilian skateboarders Leticia Bufoni (world No. 4), Didal's idol, and Pamela Rosa, the world No. 1 athlete and the 2019 world champion, crashed out of medal contention.
Skateboarding marked its successful debut in the Olympics as Didal became the first Filipino to qualify and compete for the prestigious quadrennial meet.
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