Kairi
Netsuke

X Games Chiba 2024 Skateboard Street silver medalist Kairi Netsuke helped make for a Japanese podium sweep, joined by gold medalist Sora Shirai and bronze medalist Ginwoo Onodera. Winning Tampa Am in 2019 helped launch Kairi Netsuke’s career. When the contest scene went dark the following year during the global pandemic, he took to the streets to film a part for his local shop sponsor Instant Shizuoka, a mainstay of the Japanese skate scene since 1995 (Kairi was born in 2003). His welcome to the team video for Zero Skateboards in 2022, filmed and edited by skate legend Jamie Thomas, helped further introduce him to the world. He finished 10th in his X Games debut at XG Chiba 2022 and 5th at XG Japan 2023, in his first two appearances, then took 4th in Skateboard Street Best Trick at XG California 2023 before finding the podium in 2024.