Margielyn Didal’s Olympic dreams will have to wait a few more days as she could not secure an outright berth in Rome.
This after the reigning Asian Games champion had to settle for 17th place at the end of the semifinals of the 2021 World Street Skateboarding Championships in Stadio Petrangeli in the Italian capital, Saturday morning (Manila time).
Only the top eight skaters will move on to the final. They will then vie for the three automatic spots in the Games next month. Unfortunately, Didal is not one of them.
The Filipino crowd favorite had a huge chance of progressing into the final after scoring a total of 6.40 on her two runs. She wowed not just the audience, but also got the nod of the judges.
Didal, however, faltered when it came to the second part of the round — the tricks.
It was a relatively low-scoring affair. Had she just nailed her tricks, she could have done enough to make the Super 8.
Didal perfectly did a nosegrind into the rail that scored 1.64, but could not execute the next four attempts. She eventually ended with 8.10.
The Southeast Asian Games double gold medalist, nonetheless, has a high chance of eventually booking her place in Tokyo. She collected has points from the past few competitions including this one.
According to SkatePilipinas, the Cebuana is a cinch to compete in Tokyo.
“The official announcement of qualified skaters will only be released after the World Championships Finals in Rome, but Skate Pilipinas would like to be the first to announce that our very own Margielyn Didal has earned a slot for the Tokyo Olympics,” said the federation headed by Carl Sambrano.
“Congratulations Margie! Mabuhay ka Margie!”
The Top 16 athletes in the World Skate Olympic Rankings at the end of this month will get their ticket to the sport’s Olympic debut. Didal is currently in 13th spot.
