'Skateboard prodigy' Kang Jun-i wins South Korea's first-ever Asian Games gold in men's street skateboarding

Skateboarding prodigy Kang Jun-i claimed South Korea's first-ever Asian Games gold medal in the discipline on Sunday.

Kang competed in the men's street skateboarding final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, held at Aichi Sky Expo in Tokoname, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, delivering a series of high-difficulty tricks to take the top prize.

The gold was the first in the event's history at the Asian Games.

Skateboarding prizes individual creativity and originality over any fixed routine. It is divided into two formats based on course design — street and park. The street event, in which Kang competed, uses structures modeled on real urban environments, including stairs, handrails, rails, slopes and benches. Competitors receive two 45-second runs to perform freely across the course, and judges evaluate each run on trick difficulty, execution and originality.