MANILA, Philippines – Pinay skateboarders Margielyn Didal and Christiana Means emerged as the first Filipinos to reach the Street League Skateboarding (SLS) World Championship semifinals in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Saturday, January 12 (Sunday, January 13, Manila time). 

The Philippines, along with Japan, were the only Asian countries that qualified in the semifinal round that featured 24 skateboarders going head-to-head for the top 8 slots in the Super Crown Final. 

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The top 11 Global Open Qualifying Women join the 14 pre-seated SLS Pro Women in the Semi-Finals which starts soon! Top 8 from today advance to tomorrows Super Crown Final where one of these women will become the new World Champion. Theres still a few tickets left at the box office or streetleague.com Watch tomorrows Super Crown Final on streetleague.com or our Youtube channel.  @worldskatesb #SLSWorldChampionship

A post shared by Street League Skateboarding (@sls) on Jan 12, 2019 at 5:58am PST

However, both Filipinas failed to advance to the final with Didal finishing at 14th place and Means landing at 22nd. 

Watch the 2018 Asian Games gold medalist’s  run in the 32:00 mark of coach Dani Bautista’s live video. 

The SLS tournaments serve as ranking competitions for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. 

After a golden stint in the inaugural 2018 Asian Games skateboarding event, Didal has set her sights on qualifying for the world quadriennial meet in the hopes of bringing home the country’s first Olympic gold. 

Skateboarding is one of the 5 new events in the 2020 Olympics. (WATCH: Margielyn Didal stands up for PH skate scene) – Rappler.com