MADRID (Reuters) – Resplendent in a pink dress with matching sneakers, 14-year-old Arisa Trew performed a kickflip on her skateboard in a unique red carpet entrance to the Laureus awards ceremony in Madrid before rolling away with a trophy in her category.
The Australian trailblazer became the first female skateboarder to be named World Action Sportsperson of the Year, beating out nominees including Brazilian men’s World Surf League champion Felipe Toledo and British BMX racer Bethany Shriever.
Last June, the Gold Coast teen generated global headlines when she landed a “720” at the Tony Hawk Vert Alert competition in Salt Lake City, Utah, becoming the first female to pull off the aerial double rotation in competition.
Skating icon Hawk, who invented the trick in 1985, watched on.
A month later, Trew pulled off another 720 to win the women’s vert title at the X Games in California ahead of Canada’s 10-year-old runner-up Reese Nelson.
“I look up to Tony Hawk so much,” Trew said after receiving her award on Monday.
“I was pretty close to landing it for a while and I knew at the comp I wanted to try it. He helped me, gave me some tips, so it was really cool because he’s one of my idols.”
Trew is on track to represent Australia at the Paris Games, where she will hope to become her nation’s youngest Olympic medallist.
Swimmer Sandra Morgan holds the record having won a freestyle relay gold medal at the age of 14 years and 180 days at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.
In the world rankings, Trew is 11th in park skateboarding and will book her ticket to Paris if she holds her place in the top 20 after an Olympic qualifying series starting in Shanghai next month.
“We go to Shanghai in May and then Budapest in June and hopefully she does well enough,” her coach Trevor Ward told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
“She is quite a driven person and nothing is too hard for her.”
Even if Trew takes gold in Paris she would not be the youngest skateboarder to win an Olympic title. Japan’s Momiji Nishiya claimed gold in the women’s street category at her home Tokyo Games as a 13-year-old.
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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