Cocona Hiraki earned her first X Games gold for Women’s Skateboard Park at the X Games Chiba, Japan.

She placed second in last year’s X Games Chiba and third in the 2022 Summer X Games. She is also the youngest X Games medalist at age 10 after earning a silver medal in the 2019 X Games Minneapolis Women’s Park.

The 14-year-old Japanese skateboarder was also a silver medalist in the Tokyo Olympics and the youngest summer Olympian from Japan on record.

Ruby Lilley and Yurin Fujii came in second and third place, respectively.

The competition held last Friday was supposed to be an elimination round. However, organizers cancelled Saturday skateboarding events because of the weather.

X Games organizers declared the elimination standings as the final results. The participants were informed beforehand of that possibility because of the anticipated rains.

Woodward, a leader in action sports experiences, and Street League Skateboarding (SLS), the premier professional skateboarding organization, have joined forces to create a new skate plaza in Woodward, Pennsylvania.

The SLS Plaza will be a unique 12,000-square-foot space featuring SLS competition-style elements, with designs inspired by official Street League-sanctioned events.

The plaza will allow Woodward campers to hone their skating skills in an environment typically reserved for competitions and ridden only by the best skateboarders globally.

Designed and built by California Skateparks, the plaza offers nearly 12,000 square feet of rideable area with various features, including multiple double sets with hubbas and round rails, two different-sized step-up gaps, a double kink round rail, a big triple set section with a round rail, and many more.

The plaza is geared towards intermediate to advanced skateboarders and offers a unique environment to progress and develop their skating talent.

“At every SLS tour stop, we work with California Skateparks to create a new course that will inspire SLS pros to push the progression of street skateboarding and fuel their creativity,” said Joe Carr, CEO of Thrill One Sports & Entertainment, SLS’ parent company. “While accessible to young skaters, the new SLS Plaza is built with those same goals in mind.”   

In addition to the plaza, Woodward will host weekly SLS-themed skate competitions in the new plaza during weeks 1-10 of the Woodward PA summer camp.

Weekly winners will be invited back for an SLS-themed amateur finals event during week 12, judged by SLS-sanctioned judges, providing a “real” professional competition experience.

The winner will receive a trip for two people to an SLS U.S. tour stop in 2024, including a VIP experience and the opportunity to skate the course outside the competition.

The collaboration between Woodward and SLS is part of the SLS Futures initiative, aimed at providing the next generation of skateboarding talent a pathway to the professional ranks.

Through this partnership, Woodward and SLS are committed to fostering a new generation of SLS competitors and stars.

The SLS Plaza is one of many renovations taking place at Woodward, Pennsylvania, including Sandlot East, an indoor skatepark designed by Ryan Sheckler, a multisport progression center, and a reimagined snake run.

Woodward has been offering innovative environments and dynamic programming in action sports since 1970, with eight destinations across the U.S.

Woodward Sydney is planned to open in 2024. Meanwhile, Street League Skateboarding has driven the growth and acceptance of street skateboarding worldwide since its founding by Rob Dyrdek in 2010.

SLS offers an amateur-to-professional pathway and creates thrilling live events across the globe, with the SLS Championship Tour being recognized as the world’s premier professional street skateboarding competition.

Brazilian Monster Energy Riders Kelvin Hoefler and Rayssa Leal won last weekend’s 1st stop of the 2023 Street League Skateboarding in Chicago, Illinois.

The Men’s Skateboard Street competition introduced the knockout rounds wherein riders were divided into four heats at five skaters each. The winners of the knockout rounds, plus the second-highest overall scorer, will face the defending SLS Champion, Gustavo Ribeiro, in the finals.

Hoefler secured his spot in the finals during the knockout round with impressive maneuvers. These included a kickflip frontside nosegrind on the tall Hubba, earning him 8.6 points, a half Cab noseslide to tailslide fakie scoring 8.9 points, and a half Cab backside Smith grind 180, which garnered him 9.0 points.

In the finals, Hoefler executed a flawless run that included a nollie nosegrind on the tall Hubba, a backside tailslide on the closeout rail, a kickflip backside lipslide on the flat rail, a kickflip frontside boardslide fakie down the rail, a switch frontside tailslide on the small Hubba, and a half Cab crooked on the tall Hubba, earning him a score of 8.2 points.

Meanwhile, the defending Women’s SLS Supercrown Crown Champion, Rayssa Leal, executed a flawless routine in her first of two 45-second Line attempts–including a backside 5-0 grind on the large Hubba, a backside Smith grind on the flat rail, a frontside bluntslide down the rail, a backside tailslide on the small Hubba, and a crooked grind on the tall Hubba, earning her 7.6 points.

In the Best Trick round, Leal continued to perform well, scoring 7.4 points for a backside Smith grind on the tall Hubba and 8.0 points for a perfect backside tailslide in the same spot. However, Leal’s loss of control on her subsequent attempt opened the door for her opponents to take the lead.

Battling in third place, Leal delivered a perfect frontside bluntslide down the tall Hubba on her final attempt, scoring 8.4 points and securing her victory.

The 2nd SLS 2023 stop will be on August 12 in Ariake Arena, Tokyo, Japan.

Watch the full Women’s and Men’s 2023 SLS Chicago coverage below.