Rayssa Leal Takes Second Place at SLS Sydney 2023

Back on the podium! Monster Energy congratulates team rider Rayssa Leal on taking second place in Women’s Skateboard Street at SLS Sydney 2023. In the official third contest of the 2023 SLS Championship Tour presented by Street League Skateboarding (SLS), the 15-year-old Leal from Imperatriz, Brazil, returned to the podium in a down-to-the-wire final.

Also, 28-year-old Olympic skateboarder Nyjah Huston from Laguna Beach, California, claimed third place in the heated Men’s Skateboard Street final.

Contested at Ken Rosewall Arena from October 6-7, SLS Sydney marked the third stop of the 2023 SLS World Championship Tour. It was also the first-ever SLS contest on the Australian continent.

Featuring A-list skateboarders from across the globe, the contest was live-streamed to a worldwide audience. Street League Skateboarding (SLS) was established in 2010 by pro skateboarder Rob Dyrdek as the world’s most authentic competition format in street skateboarding.

Heading into the Women’s Skateboard Street competition, Monster Energy’s Leal was looking to get back on the podium after finishing outside the top three at SLS Tokyo in August. The Olympic silver medalist had won the SLSChampionship Tour opener in Chicago in April and remains a constant podium threat.

Rising to the occasion in Sydney, Leal put down the foundation for a high score with a perfect Run in Saturday’s final. In her first attempt, Leal put together backside tailslide the big rail, frontside tailslide the ledge, nollie backside 50-50 the A-frame ledge, ollie frontside 180 the hip, backside Smith grind the bump to rail, heelflip the Euro Gap, and a technical kickflip frontside boardslide the big rail for 7.9 points and the lead.

Moving into Best Trick, Leal instantly raised the bar by posting a perfect kickflip backside lipslide the big rail on the first attempt (7.9 points). On the second attempt, she followed by landing a perfect heelflip frontside boardslide the big rail (7.2 points). Dialing up the trick difficulty further, Leal finessed a kickflip backside Smith grind the big rail on attempt three (8.8 points). But on the last attempts, Leal found herself leapfrogged by Australia’s Chloe Covell and took home a strong second-place finish with 31.8 points.

Hailing from Brazil, Leal represented Brazil in the Tokyo Olympics and claimed the silver medal in the Women’s Skateboard Street event. In 2019, she made history as the youngest rider to ever win an SLS tour stop at age 11 and took second place at the SLS World Championship in Brazil that year. She is the reigning SLS champion after winning the 2022 SLS Super Crown World Championship in Brazil. 

The Men’s Skateboard Street final featured six of the world’s top street skaters hailing from Brazil, Japan, and the United States. Monster Energy’s Huston dropped in as a podium threat after winning SLS Championship Tour Stop 1 in Chicago and claiming third place at the second stop in Tokyo.

Bringing the heat in Run 2, Huston put down Half Cab crooked the ledge to bank, kickflip backside lipslide the bump to rail, crooked grind up the ledge, frontside crooked grind the Euro Gap ledge, switch heelflip frontside boardslide the big rail, frontside nosegrind the ledge to bank, 360 kickflip the hip, Half Cab kickflip the ledge and backside 180 nosegrind the centerpiece bump-to-Hubba for Nine Club score of 9.0 points.

When the action moved into Best Trick attempts, Huston kept the Nine Club scores rolling by landing a switch heelflip frontside 5-0 to 180 the Hubba ledge (9.0 points). On his third attempt, Huston followed up by landing a switch heelflip crooked the Hubba for the third consecutive score above the Nine Club benchmark at 9.1 points. But when his next two attempts misfired, Huston had to settle for a third-place finish at 27.1 points total.

Huston is a six-time street skateboarding world champion and currently owns 21 X Games medals (13 gold, five silver, and three bronze). He is the only athlete to win X Games gold medals on five continents.

Stay tuned when the season concludes with the Super Crown World Championship in São Paulo, Brazil, from December 2-3. Don’t miss the action when the world’s best street skaters battle for the prestigious titles at Ginasio do Ibirapuera!