Skateboarder Duda Ribeiro wins silver at the Youth Olympics in Dakar

Thursday (5) was silver for Brazilian skateboarder Duda Ribeiro at the Youth Olympics, in Dakar (Senegal). The athlete was runner-up in street skateboarding, scoring 138.28 points in the final. The podium was completed by Chinese Zhu Yuanling (149.82 points) with gold and Canadian Evie Pritchard with bronze (137.79). The silver won by the skater is Brazil's third medal in the competition – Clarisse Vallim won gold in judo and Ana Júlia Amaral bronze in swimming.

“I'm very happy and very grateful for getting my maneuvers right and being able to give my best,” said Duda, who last month won gold at the South American Games in Santa Fé (Argentina).

A resident of Maricá, Duda highlighted the importance of support from the public present at the Tour de l'Oeuf complex, in the Senegalese capital. The teenager also had an illustrious supporter: Olympic medalist Rayssa Leal (silver in Tokyo 2020 and bronze in Paris 2024), global ambassador for the Youth Olympic Games.

"The fans always make a difference when I'm in the competition", commented Duda, who also thanked Rayssa for being there. "She helped me a lot, she sent me messages, spoke to me. I'm very grateful for her helping me".

Duda Sampaio secured a place in the final after leading the qualifiers with a total of 134.74 points. The Brazilian stood out in the first of the three laps, clocking 62.21, being the only competitor to exceed 50 points.

"She's in the rankings, looking for a place in the Los Angeles [Olympics] and it's very curious because she started skateboarding after [seeing the sport in] Tokyo. So, if you analyze it, this is an athlete winning a silver medal today, who didn't even know about the existence of skateboarding before Tokyo, that's very big", said Rogério Manosa Mancha, technical consultant for the Brazilian street team.

Other podiums in Brazil

The Youth Olympic Games bring together around 2,700 athletes from 207 countries until November 13th. The Brazilian delegation has 35 athletes (22 in the men's race and 13 in the women's) in Dakar.

Last Tuesday (3), judoka from Rio de Janeiro Clarisse Vallim won Brazil's first gold at the Youth Olympic Games. In the final of the category under 78 kilos, the 16-year-old athlete, the only representative of Brazilian judo in Dakar, beat the Russian Anastasiia Dobrovolskaia by ippon. The Brazilian qualified for the medal decision by defeating two other opponents by ippon: Arba Hasanaj (Kosovo) and Kayla Zorrilla (Cuba).