Kokona Hiraki ~ Photo via VPS

The last stop on the Vans Park Series Tour is finally here and the VPS World Championships in Salt Lake City, Utah started today with the women's semi-finals.

Twenty skaters from all over the world competed under the blazing hot sun, but only eight could make the cut for Saturday's finals.

There were some serious upsets today - so let's discuss those first - It was nice to see everyone's favorite skater, Nora Vasconcellos, in the mix but unfortunately, even after an extremely solid run, she did not make the cut. Yndiara Asp also did not make the cut which was unfortunate as she had dominated at the last two VPS stops - so this was unexpected to say the least. Brighton Zeuner and Jordyn Barratt were not skating, so the field was a bit different this time around for the VPS World Championships.


On the positive side, Kokona Hiraki literally owned the park today - her first run was textbook PERFECT, solid on all counts and executed with some serious style. Lizzie Armanto was as always, stylish and awesome to watch.  But with four Japanese skaters in a final of eight, the USA girls and AU's Poppy Olsen have their work cut out for them if they want to make podium and not have it be a full Japanese sweep for first through third - like it was today.

Make sure you tune in tomorrow to watch it all go down!!


LIVE BROADCAST AIRS ON SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7  ON VANSPARKSERIES.COM

GLOBAL BROADCAST TIMES

Saturday, September 7

Salt Lake City – 12 p.m.
São Paulo – 3 p.m.
Los Angeles – 11 a.m.
New York – 2 p.m.
London – 7 p.m.

Shanghai – 2 a.m. (Sunday, September 8)
Sydney – 4 a.m. (Sunday, September 8)

Lizzie Armanto ~ Photo via VPS

RESULTS - THE TOP 8 WOMEN IN TOMORROW'S VPS FINALS

1. Kokona Hiraki
2. Sakura Yosozumi
3. Mami Tezuka
4. Grace Marhoefer
5. Lizzie armanto
6. Kody Tamanaha
7. Poppy Starr Olsen
8. Kihana Ogawa


If you missed the watching the women's semi-finals LIVE from VPS Salt Lake City, we have the full recap video for you below.