Sky Brown seems to be over her shoulder in direction of Tower Bridge. ‘Positively the good place I’ve ever skated,’ she says. ‘Having that as a backdrop, so iconic.’
The 15-year-old skateboarding celebrity has simply carried out a repertoire of breathtaking tips on a floating 14ft-high half-pipe between two London buses on the Thames, stopping commuters, vacationers and kids of their tracks.
Naturally, Brown’s exhibition was all a part of a brand new promoting marketing campaign for one among her many sponsors, particularly luxurious watchmaker TAG Heuer. However the Crew GB sensation caught a red-eye flight to London particularly for it, then jetted again to her Los Angeles house the following day. Hardly a traditional week for an adolescent. However Brown is hardly a traditional teenager.
That is the lady who signed her first sponsorship deal aged seven, turned skilled and earned a contract with Nike aged 10, then grew to become Britain’s youngest Olympic medallist aged 13.
That is the lady who boasts 2.2million followers on TikTok and 1.3m on Instagram, received Dancing with the Stars: Juniors on US tv, has launched a music single and two books, and not too long ago tried to qualify for the Olympics in a second sport, browsing.
Skateboarding celebrity Sky Brown is focusing on extra Olympic medals in Paris this summer season
Brown, aged simply 15, carried out a repertoire of breathtaking tips between two London buses
For a lot of athletes, a lot so younger would blow their careers off track. For Brown, nevertheless, there are not any such fears.
‘Actually, it is very easy for me,’ she says when Mail Sport asks how she manages to juggle coaching together with her industrial commitments and research. ‘That is my way of life – skating and browsing and travelling. That is what I’ve all the time been doing. I’m actually grateful that I get to do what I really like.’
What, then, does an peculiar day within the lifetime of this extraordinary athlete appear to be? ‘I attempt to stand up round 5am so I can get within the ocean earlier than everybody and surf,’ begins Brown. ‘Then I am going house, have some meals, do some college, then go to the skate park. If the waves are nonetheless good, I am going to go online once more. Then I’ll hang around with pals and have dinner with my household.’
On that foundation, it appears like Brown’s day-to-day life stays comparatively unchanged from earlier than she received her historic Olympic bronze medal within the girls’s park occasion in Tokyo three years in the past. Nonetheless, her fame has exploded since these Video games, when she not solely shot to the eye of the British public, however received new followers around the globe.
‘I gained much more supporters,’ says Brown, who was born in Japan to a Japanese mom, Mieko, and an English father, Stuart. ‘Simply going to totally different locations, like being in London now, lots of people do recognise me.
‘Going around the globe and having folks recognise me in every single place is admittedly particular. I’ve all the time needed to encourage. I’ve seen a progress in skateboarding, particularly younger women coming into the game.’
Brown’s fame exploded after she received the bronze medal within the girls’s park occasion in Tokyo
She has grown as an individual and believes she has extra energy and power on her skateboard
As for her literal progress, Brown estimates she is barely two inches taller than when she competed in Tokyo. ‘I used to be 5ft and now I am 5ft 2in – I believed I used to be going to develop just a little extra!’ she laughs. However it’s evident she has grown as an individual. The younger lady we watched in Tokyo is now a younger girl, who even has a hair stylist and make-up artist available for a touch-up earlier than she goes in entrance of our digital camera.
‘I do really feel older,’ she says. ‘I’ve grown up just a little bit. I’ve gained extra energy and power. I’ve just a few new tips on the skateboard, so I’m actually excited to indicate it.’
Brown definitely confirmed it a yr in the past, when she received gold on the World Championships in Sharjah, all however guaranteeing her place in Paris on the first time of asking.
Now sitting third within the park world rankings, it’s virtually a formality she’s going to affirm her Olympic spot on the upcoming qualifying occasions in Shanghai and Budapest.
Brown will then go to the Video games as one of many gold medal favourites – not that she is fazed. ‘I actually need to get the gold for Crew GB, for my household, for all my supporters,’ she says. ‘It might imply loads to them and be insane.
‘I do not really feel stress. Having performed it in Tokyo already, it simply makes me need to present my new tips much more. It is simply thrilling for me. Skating shouldn’t be in regards to the medals, it is in regards to the present you placed on. I simply need to present what I like to do and present how lovely skating is. Paris is one among my favorite locations and I am unable to wait to skate there.’
Brown narrowly missed out on qualifying in browsing, together with her full focus now on skateboarding
Brown’s final ambition for Paris 2024 had been to qualify for the browsing competitors – which is happening 10,000 miles approach within the French Polynesian island of Tahiti – in addition to skateboarding.
Her dream of a novel double ended at first of the month, when she was eradicated from the repechage rounds on the World Browsing Video games, ending third in her warmth, with the highest two going by.
‘I used to be just a little bit bummed as a result of I used to be actually near getting in,’ she says. ‘I used to be one spot away. However it places an even bigger hearth in my coronary heart. I’ve LA not that lengthy away, and I’m simply going to goal for that. Do Paris first, hopefully get a gold after which get two golds in LA!’
Exterior sport, Brown continues to be excited about pursuing singing, following her 2020 pop single GIRL – which has been watched 29million occasions on YouTube – and dancing, after her actuality TV success in 2018. ‘I additionally attempt some hip-hop and I play the guitar. I attempt to do as a lot as I can,’ she provides.
The reality is, Brown can do – and be – no matter she desires. The Sky actually is the restrict.
