Sky Brown

is a British-Japanese professional skateboarder and surfer who competes for Great Britain. She was the youngest professional skateboarder in the world, and has also won the American TV programme '' Dancing with the Stars: Juniors''. She represented Great Britain at the 2020 Summer Olympics, where she won a bronze medal in the park skateboarding event, making her the country's youngest-ever medallist. She repeated this feat by winning bronze for a second time in park at the 2024 Summer Olympics. In addition, she won the same event at the 2023 World Skateboarding Championship.

Early life

Brown was born in Miyazaki, Japan. Her mother, Mieko, is Japanese, and her father, Stuart, is British. She has a younger brother, Ocean Brown. In Japanese, her given name is written in katakana as (Sukai) or in kanji as (Sukai); as is standard for Japanese surnames of foreign origin, her family name is written only in katakana.

Her British father lived in the United States for several years before moving to Japan. Brown lives in Miyazaki, but spends around half the year in the US. Her family are skateboarders, and her preschool had a skate park. She has a skating ramp in her back garden, as there are no skate parks in her home area of Takanabe, Miyazaki. In addition to skateboarding, Brown also surfs.

Skateboarding career

Brown does not have a skateboarding coach; instead she learns tricks from YouTube. She sometimes practises with Shaun White, who won Olympic snowboarding medals.

2016–2017: Early competitions

In 2016, at the age of 8, Brown took part in the Vans US Open, making her the youngest person ever to compete at the event. She fell off her skateboard in the heat. In 2017, she came second in the Asian Continental Finals, and she finished in the top 10 of the 2018 Vans Park Series.

2018: Turning professional

In 2018, at the age of 10, Brown became a professional athlete, making her the youngest professional skateboarder in the world. The same year, she won the US TV show '' Dancing with the Stars: Juniors''.

2019: Competing for Team GB

In February 2019, she won the Simple Session event in Tallinn, Estonia.

In March 2019, Brown announced that she would compete for Great Britain, having previously said that she would compete for Japan. She said that she favoured the "more relaxed approach" of the British Skateboarding Association. She was one of five Britons awarded funding from UK Sport that year as they worked to qualify for the skateboarding events at the 2020 Summer Olympics, the first time the sport was included in the Games.

In 2019, Brown placed 3rd in the park event at the 2019 World Skateboarding Championship in São Paulo and became the first female to land a frontside 540 at the X Games. She finished 5th at the X Games skateboarding event.

2020: Training injury

On 28 May 2020, while training in California, she suffered a "horrific" fall from a halfpipe ramp which left her with several skull fractures and a broken left wrist and hand. She was flown to a hospital and was reported as being unresponsive on arrival. Her father said afterwards that she was "lucky to be alive", whilst Brown herself said it was her worst fall yet. Nevertheless, she remained determined to push boundaries and compete for gold at the Tokyo Olympics.

2021: X Games gold and Tokyo Olympics bronze

In July 2021, she won the X Games women's skateboarding park gold medal.

Brown represented Great Britain in skateboarding at the pandemic-delayed 2020 Summer Olympics in August 2021. Brown was the youngest British Summer Olympian ever, at the age of 13, beating Margery Hinton who was 13 years and 43 days when she competed in the 200 metre breaststroke event at the 1928 Summer Olympics. Brown was not the youngest competitor at the Games — Syrian table tennis player Hend Zaza and Japanese skateboarder Cocona Hiraki were younger.

Brown won the bronze medal in the women's park skateboarding event at the 2020 Summer Olympics and became Great Britain’s youngest ever medal winner, at the age of 13 years and 28 days. She fell in her first two runs at the event and scored 56.47 in her final attempt. Brown was not the youngest medallist at the Games, as 12-year-old Cocona Hiraki of Japan won silver in the same event.

In late 2021, it was announced that some of Brown's skateboards would be displayed at the renovated Young V&A in London.

2022–2023

In 2022, Brown retained her X Games title, and also won the Dew Tour event for the second year in a row. She won the park event at the World Skateboarding Championship in 2023, becoming the first British skateboarding world champion.

2024: Paris Olympics bronze

In June 2024, Brown qualified for the park event at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. She joined a team that consisted of 2022 British Champion Lola Tambling and 22-time Summer X Games medallist Andy Macdonald. This team was not only notable for their individual records, but also in the skaters' age gap, with both Tambling and Brown being 16 and Macdonald being 51 years old at the time of competing.

Surfing career

In April 2021, Brown said that she was also considering trying to compete in surfing at the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics, though she ultimately only competed in skateboarding.

In March 2024, she competed at the ISA World Surfing Games in Puerto Rico, in hopes of qualifying to compete in surfing at the 2024 Summer Olympics, in addition to skateboarding, but was not successful in doing so after placing 3rd in her heat.

Awards

On 19 December 2021, Brown won the 2021 BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award; she was shortlisted again in 2022 and 2024. In April 2022, she won the Comeback of the Year award for 2021 at the Laureus World Sports Awards.

Sponsorships

In 2019, Brown became the youngest-ever Nike-sponsored athlete in the world. She has featured in a Nike campaign alongside Serena Williams and Simone Biles. She is also supported by Almost Skateboards and Skateistan.

Competition history

International competitions

Skateboarding contests

Filmography

See also

* Great Britain at the Olympics

References

External links

*

Sky Brown
at The Boardr

Sky Brown
at SPoT
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Sky
2008 births
Living people
Japanese female skateboarders
Japanese skateboarders
British skateboarders
Japanese people of British descent
British people of Japanese descent
Japanese expatriates in the United States
British expatriate sportspeople in the United States
Skateboarders at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Olympic skateboarders for Great Britain
Olympic medalists in skateboarding
Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics
Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain
X Games competitors
Sportspeople from Miyazaki (city)
World Skateboarding Championship medalists
British children
Japanese children
Skateboarders at the 2024 Summer Olympics
21st-century Japanese sportswomen
Child sportspeople