By Karen Price | Aug. 10, 2019

Cory Juneau scored his first win of the 2019 Vans Park Series on Saturday with a victory in the last stop of the year before the the world championships.

Competing in Paris, the fourth stop of the tour, the 20-year-old from San Diego laid down a top-scoring run of 86.60. It was a close contest with France’s Vincent Matheron, who came in second with a score of 86.03, but Juneau’s best run was not to be topped. This is his second podium finish in a row on the tour after coming in second last month in Montreal.

He also led a strong U.S. contingent in the men’s final. Americans rounded out the top five with Roman Pabich finishing third with a score of 84.67, Alex Sorgente placing fourth with a score of 83.13 and Tristan Rennie coming in fifth with a best run of 81.33. Sorgente is coming off a bronze medal at the X Games last week in Minneapolis.

In the women’s final, Lizzie Armanto took second place and broke up a cluster of Japanese skaters that occupied three of the top four spots. Armanto’s top run scored an 84.03, just behind winner Kokona Hiraki’s 87.50.

Armanto was the only U.S. woman to qualify in the top eight and make the final. The 26-year-old from Santa Monica, California, is coming off a bronze medal at X Games Minneapolis. 

In the Vans Park Series, the top eight semifinalists make the final and then have four runs with the top score among them counting in the final standings. 

Skateboarding will make its Olympic debut in 2020 in Tokyo with both men and women competing in park and street. The Vans Park Series Pro Tour World Championships are Sept. 3-7 in Salt Lake City. 

Karen Price is a reporter from Pittsburgh who has covered Olympic sports for various publications. She is a freelance contributor to TeamUSA.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.