Yuto Horigome (skateboarder)

Relocation

At age 14, Horigome began traveling to the United States for skating trips and eventually moved to Los Angeles, California at age 16, where he currently resides.^[5][6][7] Due to his travel schedule, he attended high school from a virtual online school. When in the United States, Horigome stays with friends, including pro skateboarder Micky Papa, in Los Angeles, California.^[3][8] Horigome stays in the United States during the winter due to the cold season in Japan to continue practicing his tricks.

Early career

California's thriving and vibrant skate culture empowered Horigome to continue practicing and entering skate contests.^[4] Horigome finished 2nd place in the Wild in the Parks hosted by Volcom and The Berrics.^[3] One year later he competed in the Tampa Am Saturday qualifiers finishing in first place.^[3] Horigome began to make a name for himself, becoming renowned for his tricks involving rails and large gaps.^[6] While in Los Angeles, In 2015, Horigome filmed some skating parts alongside Canadian skateboarder Micky Papa, who was sponsored by Blind Skateboards.^[9] Horigome joined the Blind Skateboards team later that year and stayed with the team until January 2019.^[10]

Horigome made his professional Street League Skateboarding (SLS) debut in May 2017, at the championship in Barcelona.^[3] Horigome came in third place for a bronze medal at the age of 18, as the youngest of the three medalists.^[3] One year later Horigome found himself once again on the podium in London, Los Angeles and Huntington Beach, California, this time winning gold in all three competitions and making history as the first Japanese athlete to win first place in an SLS championship. Horigome also found himself coming first place in the Dew Tour, in front of renowned skater Kelvin Hoefler, with his skate film still available online.^[11][12][13]

In May 2019, Horigome joined April Skateboards, owned by pro skater Shane O'Neill.^[14][15] Later that same year Horigome further proved himself by winning two gold medals and a bronze at the X Games competitions in Shanghai and Minneapolis. April continued to help Horigome in putting himself on the map coming out with a skate tape titled The Yuto Show!, which showcased his skateboarding abilities in a 3 minute long video.^[3][16] Horigome finished 2019 by winning silver against three time reigning champ Nyjah Huston at the São Paulo World Championship.^[4][3]

Approaching the Olympics

Approaching the 2020 Summer Olympics, Horigome ranked second in men's street on the World Skate (WS) World Skateboarding Olympic Rankings in June 2019, with 62,480 points. At that time, American Nyjah Huston topped the men's street rankings with 67,080 points.^[17]

As the 2020 Olympic Games were postponed for a year and the number of skateboarding events in 2020 was significantly reduced due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the WS Olympic Rankings for June 2021 included points earned from events in the 1 January–30 September 2019 season and the 1 October 2019 – 30 June 2021 season. In the 2021 Skate World Championship Horigome managed to take home the gold over Nyjah Huston, but Horigome remained in second place, with 249,200 points, behind Huston's 269,900 points in the Olympic Rankings.^[3][4]

Tokyo Olympic Games and beyond

At the 2020 Olympic Games Horigome displayed one of the best performances of his career receiving 9.03, 9.30, 9.35 and an astounding 9.50 on his finishing nollie backside 270 totaling to a combined score of 37.18.^[4][3] Winning the first ever gold medal for Olympic Skateboarding in his hometown of Tokyo solidified Horigome as one of the top skateboarders in the world.^[3][4]

After the Olympics, Horigome went on to win gold in X Games Chiba, which was the first X Games held in Japan.^[3] Since the X Games Chiba, Horigome has gone on to win gold in two more X Games over rivals Braden Hoban and Nyjah Huston.^[3] Horigome continues to break records recently becoming the first Japanese skater to win the Tampa Pro (skateboard competition).^[3]

Sponsorships

As of August 2024, Horigome is sponsored by Seiko, Nike SB, April Skateboards, Hardies Hardware, Venture, Spitfire, Mixi, Murasaki, Rakuten, Lipovitan, Louis Vuitton, Supreme (brand), Delta Air Lines.^[18] Horigome is often seen as the face of skateboarding in Japan helping to increase its popularity in his home country with the help of massive Japanese ecommerce and media company Rakuten even creating and competing in Japan's own Uprising Tokyo Street Skateboarding Competition.^[3] Japan's own watch company Seiko also came out with a limited edition watch in collaboration with Horigome.^[3] Nike has also come out with a Nike Dunk with a colorway customized by Horigome in honor of his home ward in Tokyo.^[4]