Canada’s Philip Kim wins first-ever gold medal in men’s Olympic breaking

CITYnews halifax / By Sportsnet Staff

Canada’s Philip Kim danced his way to history.

Kim won the first-ever gold medal in men’s Olympic breaking by defeating France’s Danis Civil 23-4 in the final battle on Saturday.

Victor Montalvo of the United States won the bronze medal.

Kim advanced gold-medal battle of the competition after defeating Japan’s Shigeyuki Nakarai 17-10 in the semifinals on Saturday. Nakarai and Kim were the top two seeds in the contest.

Kim advanced to the semifinals after defeating Lee-Lou Demierre of the Netherlands 19-8 in the quarterfinals.

Kim won all three of his battles in the round robin of the B-Boys breaking competition to advance to the quarterfinals in an event making its Olympic debut.

The 27-year-old breaker, who competes as “Phil Wizard,” beat Civil 13-5 in his opening battle. He then won 10-8 in a tight contest over Ukraine’s Oleg Kuznietsov and finished with a dominant 17-1 win over Australia’s 16-year-old breaker Jeffrey Dan Arpie Dunne.

Each of the 16 competitors competed in two battles against the three other breakers in their group in the round robin. The breakers receive marks for technique, vocabulary (the variety of moves incorporated), execution, musicality and originality.

Instead of scoring each criteria, the nine judges use a digital slider that they slide towards the breaker who they believe is winning the head-to-head matchup. There are a total of 18 points (one point per judge per battle) up for grabs over each head-to-head matchup. In the quarterfinals, semifinals and final there are a total of three rounds with 27 points up for grabs.

Kim, a Vancouver native, won the first gold medal in B-Boys breaking competition at the Pan American Games in 2023.

He also won Canada’s first world title in breaking at the 2022 World DanceSport Federation championships. Kim finished second at the championships in 2021 and 2023.

Breaking is making its Olympic debut in Paris. It will not be a sport at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

Ami Yuasa of Japan won the first ever breaking Olympic gold medal in the B-Girls competition on Friday.