Philip Kim is off to a good start in his quest for Canada’s first-ever Olympic medal in breaking.
Kim won all three of his battles in the round-robin of the B-Boys breaking competition on Saturday to advance to the quarterfinals in an event making its Olympic debut. The quarterfinals will begin at 2 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. PT. Kim’s quarterfinal battle is set to start at 2:23 p.m. ET where he will take on Lee-Lou Demierre of the Netherlands.
The 27-year-old breaker, who competes as Phil Wizard, beat France’s Danny Dann 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.
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 championship 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.