MARGIELYN Didal ended up in 17th place in the street event of the 2021 World Skateboarding Championships in Rome on Friday.
Didal accumulated 8.04 in the semifinal round based on the competition format in which her best four scores from the two runs and five single tricks were totaled.
The Rome tournament was Didal's eighth Olympic qualifying tournament out of the possible nine.
Although she missed the top eight that would have brought her into the finals, Didal’s finish is not expected to have a negative effect on her rankings and her bid to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.
In fact, the Skateboarding and Roller Sports Association of the Philippines has declared that Didal has already clinched a berth in the Olympics.
"The official annoucement of the 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 on its Facebook page.
A total of 20 slots are available in Tokyo – three going to the podium finishers of the World Championship, 16 based on the Olympic rankings on June 29, 2021, and one for the host country.
Prior to the Worlds, Didal was ranked 13th in the Olympic rankings, with allocations such as the maximum quota of three athletes per country still to be considered before determining the final participants bound for Tokyo.
Rayssa Leal of Brazil topped the semifinals with a score of 14.40 followed by Aori Nishimura of Japan (14.24), Funa Nakayama of Japan (13.88), Mariah Duran of United States (12.93), Pamela Rosa of Brazil (12.74), Roos Zwetsloot of Netherlands (12.31), Momiji Nishiya of Japan (12.10), and Leticia Bufoni of Brazil (11.80).
All eight finalists will now vie for the three automatic berths in the Olympics.
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