MARGIELYN DIDAL and Kiko Francisco missed the bus for the Tokyo Olympics in Iowa over the weekend but immediately flew from the US to Italy on Monday to try their luck in another skateboarding Olympic qualifier.
Didal, the Jakarta 2018 and 2019 Southeast Asian Games street gold medalist, and Francisco finished outside of the Olympic quota at the Dew Tour Des Moines last Sunday.
Didal hurt her elbow early in the tournament and managed a 12.06 score in the female street for 12th place out of 25 participants. Only the top eight clinched tickets to Tokyo.
Francisco had 71.50 for 13th place in male street and also didn’t make it.
They will compete in the Street World Championships set May 30 to June 6 in Rome, another qualifier for the sport that makes its Olympic debut in Tokyo.
Didal and Francisco, however, have to finish in the top three in Rome to make it to the Olympics.
Another chance for Didal to join nine Filipinos who already qualified for the Olympics so far is to hold on to her No. 14 ranking in the world.
The world’s top 16 players and one athlete from host Japan will take part in the Olympics set from July 23 to August 8. World Skate, the world governing body for the sport, will announce the qualifiers on June 29.
Already qualified for the Tokyo Olympics are taekwondo jin Kurt Bryan Barbosa, gymnast Carlos Yulo, pole vaulter EJ Obiena, rower Cris Nievarez, weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz and boxers Eumir Felix Marcial, Irish Magno, Nesthy Petecio and Carlo Paalam.
Besides skateboarding, also making their Olympic debut in Tokyo are surfing, sport climbing and karate. Men baseball and women softball are making their return since 2008.