[Edaily Starin Reporter Lee Seok-Moo ] Despite falling twice in a row and shedding tears, he ultimately succeeded in his final attempt. Kang Jun-i (17, Seoul Yeongdeungpo High School) defeated competitors from Japan—a powerhouse in skateboarding—to win South Korea’s first-ever gold medal in skateboarding at the Asian Games.

Kang Jun-i won the men’s street skateboarding final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, held on the 27th at the Aichi Sky Expo Hall in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, with a total score of 180.85 points. Japan’s Toa Sasaki (172.35 points) and Gin’u Onodera (168.11 points) took the silver and bronze medals, respectively.

This marks the first time a South Korean athlete—male or female—has won a gold medal in skateboarding since the sport became an official event at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games. This achievement came after defeating Japanese athletes, who are a powerhouse in the sport, on their home turf.

He got off to a smooth start. In the first run—a 45-second “run” where athletes perform tricks on a course featuring stairs and railings—Kang Jun-i scored 84.83 points. Although he fell near the end of his second run and scored only 69.79 points, he delivered a flawless performance in the third run, scoring 88.45 points.

The crisis came during the “Trick” segment, where he was required to perform a single high-difficulty trick. While attempting his prepared “Early Back 3 Heel Flip Lip Slide,” he fell in both the first and second runs, receiving a score of 0 on each. After his second failure, he broke down in tears in his coach’s arms.

Kang Jun composed himself and got back on his board. In his final run, he successfully landed the high-difficulty trick, earning 92.40 points. Adding this to the 88.45 points from his previous runs, his final total was 180.85 points. His final attempt, made after weathering two failures, led to South Korea’s first Asian Games gold medal in skateboarding.

Street skateboarding is a discipline in which athletes compete on a course modeled after urban streets, featuring stairs, railings, and ramps. Athletes ride their boards to jump over obstacles, slide along railings, or perform flips in mid-air. Judges evaluate the difficulty, execution, and originality of the tricks.

The key to understanding the sport lies in the difference between a “run” and a “trick.” A “run” is a performance in which a rider completes a course within a set time limit while linking together multiple tricks, whereas a “trick” is a maneuver that focuses on showcasing a single move. The number of attempts allowed for runs and tricks, as well as the scoring method, varies by competition. In the final round in which Kang Jun-i competed, riders performed three runs and three tricks each, and rankings were determined by adding the highest score from each category.