Asian Games 2026 skate, results: 0 street titles for Japan at home, how?

Two zeros on the board, a 5th place finish, and tears in his coach’s arms. Kang Jun-i, 17, has one trick attempt left. He’s going for the same trick again, the one he just botched twice. He lands it: 92.40. On Sunday, September 27th, in Tokoname, the South Korean grabs the street gold in front of two Japanese skaters, on their home turf. That’s the rundown from the 2026 Asian Games in skate, and the real shocker of the weekend: not a single street title for Japan, playing host.

Watch Kang Jun-i, street gold at the Asian Games 2026 (KSOC TV)

2026 Asian Games Results: Street and Park Podiums

Street is a two-part deal. Three 45-second runs, then three attempts at single tricks. They keep your best run and best trick, add ’em up, and a missed attempt scores zero. This format, as laid out by Kyodo, is what decided everything on Sunday.

• Kang Jun-iGold street H

  South Korea, 17 yo — 180,85 (run 88,45 + trick 92,40)

• Toa SasakiSilver street H

  Japan, two-time reigning world champ, 19 yo — 172,35

• Ginwoo OnoderaBronze street H

  Japan, Olympian in Paris — 168,11

• Zhu YuanlingGold street F

  China, 15 yo, 5th in qualifiers — 166,57

• Yumeka OdaSilver street F

  Japan, 19 yo, native of Aichi — 161,96

• Cui ChenxiBronze street F

  China, crowned in Hangzhou in 2023 — 156,60

Park, on the other hand, went straight to Japan on Friday: Mizuho Hasegawa bagged gold in women’s with a 94.03, topping Lin Yi-fan and Misugu Okamoto. On the men’s side, Izuru Nagahara took the win with an 88.96, ahead of 12-year-old Taiwanese ripper Ku Yong-yan and Gunjo Shiji. We broke down the whole park contest over in our street preview.

On the skate medal table, according to Wikipedia, Japan ends with 2 golds, 2 silvers, and 3 bronzes. China takes 1 gold and 1 bronze, Korea 1 gold, Taiwan 2 silvers. Seven medals for the host country. But the two street golds, the ones Japan has collected at the Olympics since Tokyo 2021, go elsewhere.

Kang Jun-i: 0, 0, then a 92.40 buzzer-beater

Kang already had the run section on lock. An 84.83 on his first run, a rough 69.79 on the second, then he dropped an 88.45 on his third. He wrapped up the runs sitting in first place, per SBS. All he needed was to put down one solid trick to stay on top.

And he goes for the toughest one. A 270 nollie heelflip lipslide according to World Skate, which the Korean press calls “early back-three heelflip lipslide.” The nollie starts from the nose, the board does a 270‑degree heelflip, then lands in a lipslide on the rail. According to Seoul Economic Daily, only two riders in the world nail it, Kang included.

First try: he falls on the landing, zero. Second: same, zero. He leaves the course and cries in his coach’s arms. On the board, the Japanese riders move ahead again and he slides to 5th. He only has one more attempt, and a simple option: dial back the difficulty and secure a medal.

He goes back with the same trick. This time he nails it clean: 92,40, the best trick of the men’s final. Total 180,85, more than 8 points ahead of Sasaki. Toa Sasaki told Kyodo: “I thought he’d dial back the difficulty and just try to land something. But he went for it, and he nailed it. It was insane.”

Here’s Kang’s gold medal story told by the Korean Olympic Committee on its official channel:

It’s the first Korean gold in skate at the Asian Games since the sport joined the program in 2018. Before him, Korea had only a bronze, earned by Eun Ju-won in street at Jakarta. The youngest finalist, Thai Kirin Petkiree, 12, finished 7th out of 8.

Zhu Yuanling and Yumeka Oda: 4.61 points gap, and a run that costs the gold

In the women’s division, the script flipped. Yumeka Oda, first in qualifiers, missed her first two runs. She nailed the third with simpler tricks: 71.21, according to Yomiuri. Meanwhile, Zhu Yuanling, only 5th in qualifiers, lined up two runs over 70 and then a 79.73. She was leading before the tricks.

Then Oda struck. First trick attempt, 90.75: the highest score of the whole event, men included. She surged ahead, front‑and‑center in front of her home crowd. Zhu answered with 78.96, then nailed 86.84 on her second try and kept the lead to the end. She’d been working that trick for ages, she told Xinhua, and yet: “I didn’t expect the gold.”

Behind, Cui Chenxi snags bronze with 156.60. She was 4th after the runs, but she surged with a trick she’d never tried before the competition, according to Xinhua. The real shocker is elsewhere: Ibuki Matsumoto, world #1, finished 5th.

Oda stays grounded. “It felt good to show my big trick to everyone here, in my city,” she told Kyodo. “But I really wanted gold.” In Hangzhou 2023, she had finished 4th.

Who’s Kang Jun-i, the kid who beat Japan at home

Kang didn’t just pop up out of nowhere. He missed Hangzhou 2023 due to a knee injury. The next year, he became the first Korean to win the Tampa Am, the world’s top-rated amateur contest, according to the Seoul Economic Daily. It’s the contest that launched Aurélien Giraud in 2015. Last year, he finished 2nd at the X Games.

To get why he’s so cool under pressure, go back to that winning run at Tampa Am 2024, posted by the Skatepark of Tampa:

On Tuesday the 25th, it was written that the men’s title could “be played on the head of an 18‑year‑old Korean.” The name was right. However, we saw Japan snatch three titles out of four. It took two, both in the park.

No Street Gold for Japan in Aichi: How It Happened

Japan has won every Olympic street title, men’s and women’s, since Tokyo 2021, Kyodo reminds. At home, it leaves with two silvers and a bronze. So, how?

Our answer: Japan didn’t lose on talent, it lost on two moments. For the women, it was a run. Oda pulled the best trick of the weekend, but her 71.21 run left her 8.52 points behind Zhu, and the final gap was only 4.61. Two missed runs cost the gold, not the level. For the men, it was a refusal to play it safe. Kang had two zeros, a medal within reach with an easy trick, and he went for the hardest. Sasaki said it himself: he expected the Korean to hold it down.

And that weighs on the future. “If I don’t really lift my level, it’s going to get tough,” Sasaki said. The next big calendar event: the World Skate Games 2026 in Asunción, on the road to LA28. Japan will get there with something it hasn’t had in a long time: doubt.

You, with two zeros and a medal within reach, will try Kang’s trick again or will you hold it down? Drop it in the comments ↓

All coverage of major skate contests is on nosk8.com, with the pre‑contest in our guide to the Asian Games 2026.