Key Points
- Skateboarder Arisa Trew is ranked 14th in the world and is on track to represent Australia at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
- The 13-year-old made history as the first female to land a 720 (two full mid-air rotations) in competition.
- She says the growing number of girls in the sport has pushed her to improve.
Gold Coast teenager Arisa Trew is on track to make her dream of representing Australia at next year's Summer Olympics in Paris come true.
The Japanese-Australian skater has had a great run for the past 12 months, and is currently ranked 14th in the world, well within the top 22 who qualify for the Olympics.
"Going to the Paris Olympics is one of my biggest goals," Trew told SBS Japanese shortly after returning from the Rome Park World Championship.
Despite finishing 13th overall in Rome, having "hoped for better results", Trew said she is on course for Paris.
"I’m in a pretty good position right now after competing in the Olympic qualifiers and world championships."
The 13-year-old, who loves to surf and hang around with friends in her spare time, also made skateboarding history in June this year, when she became the first female to competitively land two full mid-air rotations, a manoeuvre known as the 720.
What's more, Trew landed her "dream trick" at Tony Hawk’s Vert Alert, in Utah, in front of the very person who pioneered the move in 1985.
"It was really cool because he [Tony Hawk] was the first who landed the trick and it's just amazing because that was me as well, landing the trick for my first time," she said.
It was just a crazy experience.Arisa Trew
The legendary skater also gave Trew some advice about nailing the trick.
"He told me I need to duck my head more under my shoulder to get the spin better. And then to slow my rotation down, which really helped me align it."
Trew landed the trick again in July at the X Games California, taking home gold in the vert title.
While Trew hopes to land more 720s in competitive environments, her current focus is on "Park", one of the two disciplines offered at the Paris Games along with "Street". Her next qualifier will be the Sharjah Park 2024 event in Dubai.
The "Park" competition unfolds on a course shaped like a bowl, featuring various obstacles. These elements allow athletes to build up speed and momentum, creating opportunities to showcase airborne tricks.
At the Tokyo 2020 Games, the competition saw youngsters take over the podium with Japanese teens Sakura Yosozumi (then 19) and Kokona Hiraki (12) claiming gold and silver, while British-Japanese Sky Brown (13) taking bronze.
Flying and competing around the world has only been possible for Trew through the support of her parents and the Level Up Australian Sports Academy, a speciality school that offers professional coaching in skating, surfing and BMX freestyle, along with education.
"I do three hours of education, and then skate rest of the day. The schoolwork is online so I can still do it when overseas," she explained.
Trew said being around like-minded people is a lot of fun.
However, when Trew first started skateboarding five years ago, she felt a little overwhelmed and took time to find her place in a sport dominated by boys.
Young Arisa fell in love with skateboarding almost immediately. Credit: Simon Trew
"It was like surfing on land,” she said.
"It was kind of overwhelming when I was skating with just boys, because at first, I wasn’t friends with any of them and I was really shy. It was hard for me to get a run because they would just snake," she reflected, using the term for stealing or cutting off someone's line at a skate park.
Her mother Aiko said she observed how her daughter, who was naturally athletic, quickly fell in love with skateboarding.
"Arisa was involved in many sports, but skateboarding was something that she could do on her own, and she would meet lot of friends at the park too. I saw her really get into it," she said.
Arisa's sporting talent was obvious from a young age. Credit: Simon Trew
With a beaming smile, she said she always looks forward to competitions as a chance to meet with other skaters who have become great friends over time.
"All the girls that I compete against are friends, and it's really fun going to competitions because when I'm here [Australia], I miss them.
"We're all around the same age and get along really well. We're all competitive with each other, but not in a bad way, we all just have fun."
Arisa says she has made many friends around the world from skateboarding. Credit: Simon Trew
The skateboarding event will take place on 27-28 July for "Street" and 6-7 August for "Park".
A total of 88 skaters will compete, made up of 22 per each event in the men's and women's competitions.
Listen to Arisa's interview
#7 Arisa Trew: 13 year old skater en route to the Paris Olympics
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