Olympic champion Horigome falls in Olympic Qualifier Series
Olympic champion Yuto Horigome of Japan was the big name to fall on day one of the ground-breaking Olympic Qualifier Series on Thursday.
In the men's skateboarding street competition, Horigome scored 81.88 points to finish 17th, just one spot below the bar to qualify for the semifinal round.
"I am not satisfied with my performance today, but I still have a chance to secure a position in Paris Olympic Games. I will work harder and try to be among Paris Olympic skateboarders," said the 25-year-old Horigome.
Horigome was not alone in facing an early exit. Tokyo Olympic silver medallist Kelvin Hoefler also failed to advance after only posting a best score of 68.44.
Netsuke Kairi posted a triumphant 90.41 to qualify first.
In the men's sport climbing competition, reigning Olympic champion Alberto Gines Lopez finished third out of 46 athletes in the bouldering qualification.
"I think the result is quite okay, the thing will be enough at least for what we expected," Lopez told Xinhua.
South Korea's Lee Dohyun took first place on 84.9 points. Hamish Mcarthur of Britain was second with 84.6 points.
China's Pan Yufei was tied for 15th with Yannick Flohe of Germany. After Friday's competition, top 20 athletes in overall standings will advance to the semifinal phase.
In the women's bouldering qualification, Luo Zhilu of China scored 84.8 to finish fifth among 48 climbers, while Ievgeniia Kazbekova of Ukraine scored 99.8 to lead the qualification.
"It feels great but the numbers are just the numbers. It's way more important that I am proud of my climbing and definitely this round is one of the best I've had," said Kazbekova.
Luo blamed her cold for failing to conquer the first route and vowed to bring a stronger performance.
"I caught a cold and it influenced me a lot. The routes were not very hard for me," she said. "I will try to get back to my best form as soon as possible."
In women's skateboarding park qualifying round, Olympic silver medalist Kokona Hiraki had a spectacular second run and took first place after scoring 83.66 points, followed by Austrian Arisa Trew (81.09) and her mate Mizuho Hasegawa (79.03).
"I am happy that I made it full in the first run already," Hiraki said.
Chinese skateboarder Zheng Haohao failed to enter the round of last 16 after ranking 20th with 51.73.