World Skate Games 2026: Mizuho Hasegawa and JD Sanchez Take Vert Gold in Asunción

Intro

The first vert skateboarding world titles of the 2026 World Skate Games were handed out this weekend in Asunción, Paraguay — and both went to riders who are becoming very hard to bet against. Japan's Mizuho Hasegawa and the USA's JD Sanchez won the women's and men's Vert World Championships respectively, on a ramp set up in front of Paraguay's presidential palace, as the skateboarding portion of the Games got underway. Sources: ABC Color (Paraguay), World Skate official event calendar

The Games themselves run October 2–18 in Asunción, bringing together over 10,000 athletes across 12 disciplines, with 154 world titles on the line — including skateboarding's park, street, and slalom events still to come later in the schedule. Source: Olympics.com

Vert: Skateboarding's Original Discipline

Vert tends to get overshadowed by street skateboarding in terms of mainstream visibility, but it's actually the older of the two — rooted in 1970s pool-riding and the purpose-built ramps that followed, long before street skating became skateboarding's dominant public face in the late 1980s. Two facing transitions, height, and very little room to hide: it's often cited as one of the purest tests in the sport, since there's no flat section to recover on mid-run the way there is in park skating.

Women's Final: Hasegawa Holds Off a Late Push

Hasegawa, already the reigning women's park world champion, entered the vert final with the kind of form that made her the rider to beat. According to coverage from the event, she built an early lead through the run section, only to see Japanese teammate Shuka Kawai close the gap hard in Best Trick — attempting back-to-back 720s in a bid to steal the win outright. Hasegawa answered by stomping a difficult trick of her own on her final attempt to secure the title, with Kawai taking silver. Brazil's Helena Laurino rounded out the podium in third, while 13-year-old Brazilian skater Luiza Hiumi drew attention for an impressively mature opening run in her senior World Championship debut.

Men's Final: Sanchez's Consistency Beats Khury's Power

The men's final came down to a tight contest between Sanchez and Brazil's Gui Khury, a rider already known for pushing the upper limits of vert difficulty. Per event coverage, Khury landed several 900-degree variations during the Best Trick round — including one over an eight-foot channel gap — but Sanchez's broader range of tricks across the full session was enough to edge the win, finishing roughly nine points ahead. Australia's Hudson Walker took bronze. A brief weather delay during the final round of Best Trick had little effect on the minor placings further down the field.

Full Results

Men's Vert Final

Women's Vert Final

Source: World Skate official results, confirmed after the finals on Saturday, October 3

What's Next

With the vert titles decided, skateboarding at the Games moves on to park competition (October 3–10) and street (October 11–18), featuring a deep field that includes Olympic medalists Sky Brown and Keegan Palmer among the athletes chasing ranking points toward LA 2028 qualification. Source: Olympics.com

Sources

• ABC Color (Paraguay) — event coverage, October 2026
• Olympics.com — "World Skate Games 2026 in Asunción" preview and schedule
• World Skate — official 2026 Games event calendar and full results
• Event reporting from Asunción (detailed round-by-round results)