US star determined to atone for Tokyo flop in French capital

LOS ANGELES — The spectator-free Tokyo Olympic Games were a disappointment for top-ranked US skateboarder Nyjah Huston but he reckons it will be a different story when fans pack the stands in Paris next year.

Huston struggled to stay upright in the street skating final in July 2021 and had to settle for seventh place, a shock for the most dominant and highest-paid skateboarder of all time.

"I'm very excited for Paris," fan favorite Huston told Reuters at a swanky party at the Ralph Lauren store in Beverly Hills to celebrate the one-year countdown to the Paris Games.

"It will be nice to experience a more normal Olympics and have the crowd, have the energy of the fans. It will be a lot better feeling out there."

Huston, a six-time world champion and 13-time X Games gold medalist who boasts 5.1 million followers on Instagram, said his Olympic performance was not too surprising given he had struggled at other fan-free competitions during the pandemic.

"As skaters, we really feed off the hype and the energy of our homies in the crowd," he said. "I'm definitely excited to have another chance to go out and represent the USA."

At the party, three-time Olympic champion snowboarder Shaun White and Huston discussed bouncing back from their respective leg injuries, with Huston telling White he had fully recovered from his ACL tear last August.

Huston, 28, dominated the WST Street Skateboarding men's final in Rome in June to retain his title with his first win since the injury.