Sora Shirai does it again in Tokyo as the Super Crown picture gets complicated

The last stop of the 2024 SLS Championship Tour landed at Tokyo's Ariake Arena for a high-stakes showdown presented by Nikon, with a course paying homage to the iconic Shibuya crossing. With the Super Crown in São Paulo just weeks away, every point mattered — and with Giovanni Vianna, Nyjah Huston and Felipe Gustavo sitting atop the overall standings heading in, plenty of riders were looking to shake things up. They did exactly that.

Knockout rounds: big names, bigger surprises

Twenty riders entered the knockout round, and the carnage was real. Gustavo Ribeiro was sent home with a 15.3, even with a 9.0 trick, not nearly enough to save him. Kelvin Hoefler and Shane O'Neill suffered the same fate despite also landing 9+ tricks and not making it through. On a day where the margins were brutal, landing one big trick wasn't going to cut it.

On the flip side, Chris Joslin was a force of nature — his 36.6 was the highest score across all four knockout groups, and he did it by beating Yuto Horigome on home soil in front of a vocal Japanese crowd. Sora Shirai wasn't far behind, cruising through his group with 35.3. The six finalists — Shirai, Joslin, Gustavo, Horigome, Decenzo and Midler — were set.

Final: Shirai makes it two in a row, Gustavo disappears

If the knockouts were chaotic, the final was a masterclass in tightness at the top — and bewilderment at the bottom. Sora Shirai took gold with 36.8, his second consecutive SLS win after Sydney, anchored by a 9.4 trick that sealed the deal. Yuto Horigome pushed him hard with the best run of the night at 9.3, finishing second at 36.3. Chris Joslin completed a remarkable day with a 36.2 for third — the entire podium separated by just 0.6 points.

Then there was Felipe Gustavo, who had cruised through his knockout group and arrived in the final as a genuine contender. He left with a 7.7, one of the more baffling collapses of the season. Meanwhile Alex Midler quietly put together a solid 34.3 for fourth, one of the cleaner performances of the night that got lost in the noise.

Heading into São Paulo, the Super Crown race had just gotten a lot more interesting. Joslin, Shirai and Horigome had announced themselves loudly. The riders at the top of the standings had been put on notice.