Cocona Hiraki Explained

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Cocona Hiraki
Nationality:Japanese
Birth Date:26 August 2008
Birth Place:Kutchan, Hokkaido, Japan[1]
Hometown:Tomakomai, Hokkaido, Japan[2]
Occupation:Skateboarder
Years Active:2019–present
Module:
Kanji:開 心那
Hiragana:ひらき ここな
Country:Japan
Sport:Skateboarding
Position:Regular-footed
Rank:1st [3]
Event:Park
Club:Hot Bowl Skate Park (Sapporo)
Worlds:World Skateboarding Championship 2023: Women's park – Gold
Olympics:2020 Summer Olympics: Women's park – Silver

[4] is a Japanese skateboarder. She won a silver medal in the women's park event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, becoming the youngest Japanese athlete on record to participate in the Summer Olympic Games.[5] [6] She won a silver medal again in the women's park event at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Career

Hiraki began skateboarding at age 5.[2] At age 9, she placed fourth in the women's park event at the 2nd Japan National Skateboarding Championships in May 2018, and participated in her first international event, the Vans Park Series Asia Continental Championship in August 2018, at which she placed first.[2]

Hiraki made her global competition debut at age 10, finishing seventh in the women's event at the 2018 Park World Championship (also called the World Skate Tour (WST) Park World Championship) of the World Skateboarding Championship in Nanjing.[7] Eight months later, she won silver in women's park at the X Games Minneapolis 2019 to become the youngest X Games medalist in history.[8] She earned her first first-place finish on the global circut at the Vans Park Series (VPS) Paris in 2019, several weeks before her eleventh birthday.[9]

At the 2019 edition of the Park World Championship in São Paulo, she finished outside of the women's finals in eleventh place.[10] [11] Despite falling outside of the medal table at the 2021 Dew Tour in Des Moines, Iowa, US, Hiraki's fifth place finish at the event earned placement at sixth on World Skate's World Skateboarding Ranking and qualified her for the 2020 Summer Olympics.[5] [12]

Hiraki made history as Japan's youngest Summer Olympic Games participant and medalist when she won silver at the inaugural Olympic women's park event at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo on 4 August 2021.[13]

During 2022, she won silver at the X Games Chiba 2022 in Chiba, Japan on 23 April,[14] bronze at the X Games 2022 in Vista, California, US on 23 July,[15] and bronze at the 2022 Dew Tour in Des Moines, Iowa, US on 30 July.[16] and

Hiraki earned podium placement at five of the six qualification events for the 2024 Summer Olympics. Her results included a fifth-place finish at the World Skateboarding Tour (WST) Stop San Juan Park in San Juan, Argentina during May 2023, a third-place finish at the Olympic Qualification Series (OQS) Budapest in Budapest, Hungary during June 2024, and second place finishes at WST Park Dubai in Dubai, UAE during March 2024 and OQS Shanghai in Shanghai, China during May 2024.[17] [18] The highlights of her qualification events were a silver medal at the Park World Championships Sharjah 2022 in Sharjah, UAE on 13 February 2023[19] and a gold medal victory at the WST Park World Championship 2023 in Ostia, Rome, Italy on 8 October 2023.[20] [21]

At the X Games Chiba 2023, she won gold on the merits of her elimination round results after organizers cancelled the finals due to inclement weather in the form of incessant rain.[22]

In June 2024, Hiraki was first on World Skate's World Skateboarding Ranking for women's park.[3]

Records

As of August 2024, Hiraki holds the following records:

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Iwasa . Tomo [岩佐友] . 日本最年少メダリスト育んだ「ガリガリ」 開心那、滑り続ける才能 . 24 June 2024 . . 4 August 2021 . ja.
  2. News: 【こんな人】スケボー12歳の開心那は「ココナツ」から 北海道生まれ . 24 June 2024 . . 4 August 2021 . ja.
  3. Web site: World Skateboarding Ranking – Female, Park . . 24 June 2024.
  4. Web site: 開 心那 (ひらき ここな)|スケートボード|選手プロフィル|東京2020オリンピック・パラリンピック. 2021-08-02. Jiji.com. ja.
  5. Web site: 2021-05-25 . Skateboarder Kokona Hiraki to become Japan's youngest Olympian . 2021-08-02 . . en-US.
  6. News: 2021-05-25 . 12-yr-old skateboarder Kokona Hiraki set to be youngest Japanese Olympian . 2021-08-02 . Kyodo News.
  7. Web site: Mercuri . Simona . Sakura Yosozumi, 2018 World Skate Women's Park Skateboarding World Champion . . 24 June 2024 . 1 November 2018.
  8. Web site: History of X Games . Media guide . . 24 June 2024.
  9. Web site: 2019-08-12. Cory Juneau and Kokona Hiraki Take First Place at VPS Paris . 2021-08-16 . . en-US.
  10. Web site: Athletes: HIRAKI Kokona (Skateboarding). live. https://web.archive.org/web/20210727000554/https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/olympic-games/en/results/skateboarding/athlete-profile-n1315697-hiraki-kokona.htm. 2021-07-27. 2021-07-26. Tokyo 2020 Olympics on Olympics.com.
  11. Web site: Sao Paulo Park World Championship – Women Complete Results . . 24 June 2024 . 14 September 2019.
  12. Web site: Olympic World Skateboarding Rankings – Park, Female . . 2021-07-28 . en . 2021-06-30 . 27 July 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210727044303/http://www.worldskate.org/skateboarding/rankings.html . dead.
  13. News: Dawson . Alan . 12-year-old skateboarding prodigy Kokona Hiraki just became the youngest Olympic medalist in 85 years . 24 June 2024 . . 4 August 2021.
  14. News: Sankar . Vimal . Olympic medallists and Japanese riders victorious at X Games in Chiba . 24 June 2024 . Inside the Games . 23 April 2022.
  15. News: DiCristoforo . Andrea . X Games Day Four News and Results . 24 June 2024 . . 24 July 2022.
  16. Web site: Tulloch . Ash . Sky Brown wins women's park event at 2022 Dew Tour as Gustavo Ribeiro takes men's street skateboard title . . 24 June 2024 . en . 30 July 2022.
  17. Web site: Merrell . Chloe . Classy Hiraki Kokona cruises through to semi-finals in first at Olympic Qualifier Series Shanghai . . 24 June 2024 . en . 16 May 2024.
  18. News: Skateboarding world champion Hiraki runner-up at Olympic qualifier . 24 June 2024 . . 4 March 2024 . en.
  19. News: Eaton, Brown win historic gold medals at Park World Championships in Sharjah . 24 June 2024 . . 13 February 2023.
  20. Web site: Merrell . Chloe . Jiwani . Rory . WST Rome Park World Championships 2023: Japan's Hiraki Cocona takes women's world title . . 24 June 2024 . en . 8 October 2023.
  21. News: Shefferd . Neil . Bottger and Hiraki claim titles at World Skate Park Championships . 24 June 2024 . Inside the Games . 8 October 2023 . en.
  22. Web site: Kano . Shintaro . X Games Chiba 2023: Rain wipes out competition Saturday as Rayssa Leal, Hiraki Cocona, Keegan Palmer and Daniel Sandoval grab gold . . 24 June 2024 . 13 May 2023.
  23. News: Zucker . Joseph . X Games 2019: Full Results, Medal Winners and Best Trick Highlights . 24 June 2024 . . 4 August 2019 . en. Age calculated using athlete's date of birth and the event date, 2 August 2019.
  24. Web site: 2021-08-04 . Skateboarding - Heat 1 Results, Ariake Park Skateboarding . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20210803191443/https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/olympic-games/en/results/skateboarding/results-women-s-park-qual-000100-.htm . 2021-08-03. 2021-08-04 . . en-us. Age calculated using athlete's date of birth and the event date, 4 August 2021.