This 13-year-old skateboarder just made history in front of Tony Hawk

Who is she? Arisa Trew is a 13-year-old surfer and skateboarder from Australia’s Gold Coast.

She recently made history at Tony Hawk’s Vert Alert competition held in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Trew became the first female skateboarder ever to land a 720 in a competition – it was also her first time ever landing the trick.

What’s the big deal? For the uninitiated, a 720 is a skateboarding trick first pioneered by Tony Hawk in 1985; it requires the skater to complete two full rotations while in the air.

This week marked the 20th anniversary of Hawk landing the world’s first 900 – for you math wizards out there, that means he added another half rotation to his time spent up in the air. 

View this post on Instagram A post shared by X Games (@xgames)

Hawk was in the audience watching as Trew made history and went on to win the women’s final. She also earned a portion of the $75,000 shared competition prize.

Hawk’s competition was part of an effort to revitalize vert skating – the kind of skateboarding that takes place on a ramp, or half pipe.

After shuttering the category 13 years ago, the X Games is reintroducing a women’s category for vert skating, where Trew has already qualified due to her performance at Vert Alert.

One metric, from GoSkate, a skateboarding lesson resource, estimates that 40% of new skateboarders are women.

What are people saying?

Here’s what Trew shared on Instagram after her feat:

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Arisa Trew (@arisa_trew)

And her coach, Trev Ward:

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Trev Ward Academy (@trevwardacademy)

Plus, the man himself, Tony Hawk, on how Trew brought the house down:

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Tony Hawk (@tonyhawk)

Kim Woozy from Skate Like a Girl on the significance of Trew’s accomplishment for their movement:

It just kind of shows us that we’re nowhere near the limits.

I’ve seen the progression really ramp up in the past 5 to 10 years. And mainly that’s because I believe that there is an infrastructure, and support and investment now for girls to skateboard and pursue skateboarding from a financial aspect or professional level.

I think every time there’s a new sort of milestone check, including this one and there’s other great examples as well, it’s just an indication that this is absolutely just the beginning of what has been a movement that used to be a lot more unacknowledged or unseen.



So, what now?

According to the Olympic World Skateboarding rankings, Trew is ranked 14th in the world in her division.

Trew is seeking a spot on the Australian national skateboarding team for the Paris 2024 Olympics. 

Learn more:

Simone Biles and Sunisa Lee to return to competition, with 2024 in their sights

An Indigenous lacrosse team reclaims its native identity

Hoop dreams of a Senegalese b-baller come true at Special Olympics

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.