Athletes take a leap towards Paris 2024 as Olympic Qualifier Series action continues in Shanghai
17 May 2024 – The quest to reach Paris 2024 has continued for athletes in a festival atmosphere at the first-ever Olympic Qualifier Series event in Shanghai.
Athletes from four sports are in Shanghai chasing places at Olympic Games Paris 2024 – breaking, BMX freestyle, skateboarding and sport climbing – and will seek more points at the second and final Olympic Qualifier Series event in Budapest next month (June 20-23).
Day two was packed with preliminaries, ahead of a weekend of finals across all four sports.
It was the first day of BMX freestyle action with qualifying taking place for Saturday’s finals. Marcus Christopher (USA) finished top of the Men’s Park ahead of Dylan Hessey (GBR) and Logan Martin (AUS). China dominated the Women’s event. Sun Sibei topped the standings with an exceptional final run, ahead of Sun Jiaqi and Deng Yawen.
Australian Keefer Wilson led 16 competitors through to the semi-finals in Skateboarding Men’s Park, followed by Jagger Eaton (USA) and Pedro Quintas (BRA). The Skateboarding Women’s Street qualifying demonstrated Japan’s strength with Liz Akama, Funa Nakayama and Coco Yoshizawa all in the top four along with Chloe Covell (AUS).
Friday was a busy day of Sport Climbing preliminaries. In the Men’s Lead discipline Spain’s Olympic Champion Alberto Gines Lopez showed his quality with a dominant performance to top the standings. Dohyun Lee (KOR) and Hamish McArthur (GBR) finished in the top three after building on good scores in Thursday’s Boulder discipline.
In the Women’s Sport Climbing Nonaka Miho had a good day in the Lead section to qualify for the semi-finals in top position, ahead of Brooke Raboutou (USA). Ukrainian Ievgeniia Kazbekova qualified in third place having led the way after the Bouldering.
Speed climbing qualifying also took place. China’s Peng Wu came out on top in the Men’s event, followed by Indonesians Veddriq Leonardo and Kiromal Katibin. In the Women’s Speed Climbing Poland’s Aleksandra Kalucka had the best score, ahead of Yafei Zhou (CHN) and Capucine Viglione (FRA).
An equal gender split of 464 athletes from 120 National Federations are competing in this first-ever Olympic Qualifier Series (Shanghai-Budapest). 150 of the athletes will have qualified for Paris 2024. It’s a festival-like mix of music, art, fashion and competition, bringing the sports and the lifestyle together.
The youngest competitor in the Olympic Qualifier Series is Chinese skateboard prodigy Zheng Haohao, who is just 11 years-old, and she said about the experience:
“It’s the first time I’ve seen this kind of event, and it’s the first time I’ve watched a variety of events where there is BMX, climbing.and then there are us skateboarders. I think it’s great fun and exciting and I’ve also been able to dance!”
Legendary American Skateboarding Champion Tony Hawk has praised the progress being made in his sport, a vibe reflected by the Olympic Qualifier Series: “I think that skating has finally come of age – if you go to a skate park now there are people of all genders, ages, backgrounds and race and they’re all enjoying it together.”
You can watch the action from Shanghai live on Olympics.com and the official Olympics app for mobile devices. Check out schedules for the Olympic Qualifier Series 2024 here:
Olympic Qualifier Series 2024 | Shanghai – Schedule & Results
Olympic Information Service photos and text from the Olympic Qualifier Series 2024 here:
