Rayssa Leal is two-time SLS champion with historic note

This Sunday (3), Rayssa Leal became two-time champion of the SLS, the main street skateboarding league in the world, by winning the Super Crown, the last stage of the championship, which took place at the Ginásio at Ibirapuera, in São Paulo.

With a high-scoring performance from the start, including a 9.0, she was dominant and finished with 31.9, ahead of Olympic champion Momiji Nishya, with 30.6, and Page Heyn, with 28.9.

That reaction says it all, welcome to the 9 Club, @rayssaleal! @BBSeguros pic.twitter.com/ohKvjz64ND

— Street League Skateboarding (@StreetLeague) December 3, 2023

The 9.0 achieved by Rayssa is unprecedented in the “laps” stage of the competition. Another even higher note has already been given previously. Oda Yumeka had already achieved a 9.4, but in the “maneuvers” stage. They are the only two women in history to achieve this feat.

As in the previous phase, the skaters had two 45-second laps and five opportunities for individual maneuvers. The final score was the sum of the four highest scores, which could be made up of one lap and three individual maneuvers, or four individual maneuvers, with a maximum score of 40 points. Best placed in her heat in the qualifying phase, Rayssa Leal was the last to perform in each round of the final.

In the first session of 45-second laps, the initial highlights were Olympic champion Momiji Nishiya, with a score of 6.3, and young Chloe Covell, who got a 6.0 from the judges betting on the precision of her ‘flips’. After Rayssa’s first lap, however, the two’s performance was overshadowed, as the Brazilian performed great handrail maneuvers to receive an 8.1 and take the lead.

Covell and Nishiya failed to raise their level in the second session, with scores below 6.0 and saw Rayssa shine again, this time with a score of 9.0, which sent the crowd into a frenzy when announced. In SLS, the nines are not as constant. Whoever succeeds, joins the so-called “Nine club”.

The dominance in the two laps made Rayssa the leader in the individual maneuvers. In her first attempt, Chloe Covell landed a kickflip on the stairs, scoring 7.3 and proving to be a threat to the Brazilian’s two, as did Nishyia, who scored 7.4, but the 15-year-old from Maranhão responded with a 8.0 when hitting a “backside tailslide” on the handrail.

In the second round of individual maneuvers, Rayssa scored her first score below eight, a 6.4, but it was enough to regain the lead that had been taken by Covell. The difference between them was three points – 23.4 for the Brazilian against 20.4 for the Australian.

The third round put Yumeka Oda, author of a maneuver rated at 8.6, into the fray, totaling 20.7 and surpassing Covell, who did not score. Then, it was Nishiya’s turn to score 8.8 to take second place, with 22.3. Rayssa, however, was in another rotation and got an 8.5 from the judges to add 31.9 and take the lead, thrilled to have gotten the maneuver right.

Rayssa was unable to complete her attempt in the fourth round and scored a zero, but the score was discarded, as only four counts towards the final score. The advantage built previously left her quite calm, five points ahead of Heyn, in second place. In the final round, no one was able to overcome Rayssa, who performed the last trick as champion.

*With information from Terra

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