After overcoming a shoulder injury, Sky Brown of Team GB won bronze in the exciting women’s skateboarding park final in Paris. Brown, 16, was pictured clutching her dislocated left shoulder following a hard fall on Tuesday in the preliminary round.
However, she added to the bronze she won in Tokyo, where she became the youngest medallist from Great Britain at the age of 13 years and 28 days, with a stunning final performance of 92.31.
“I feel like this made my story,” Brown stated.
“I felt the adrenaline and was just hyped up. I didn’t even think about it.”
At Place de la Concorde, Japan’s Kokona Hiraki matched her performance from three years prior, scoring 92.63 for silver, while Australia’s 14-year-old Arisa Trew won gold with a score of 93.18.
Since incumbent champion Sakura Yosozumi had not progressed earlier in the day, a new winner had been assured.
And to become the youngest medallist at Paris 2024, Trew—wearing her signature pink helmet—capably completed a high-risk, high-speed final round.
Fearless Brown breaks through the pain barrier
After making it through qualification, Brown declared she would “fight through” the agony and that she would need surgery following the Games. Despite wearing heavy strapping, she gave a performance full of flare and ferocity.
After an opening 80.57, she placed just outside of the podium spots. She raised the difficulty of her routine with every round, hoping to improve on her Tokyo 2020 medal, but Hiraki, the final skater, beat her.
The British boarder, who only returned to the skatepark after her attempt to qualify for the surfing competition in March came up just short, is nonetheless impressive with the bronze.
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“This journey has been crazy with lots of downs but lots of ups,” she continued.
“Since Tokyo I have learned a lot. I was one spot away from qualifying for the surfing. It made me stronger. I am super stoked. I wasn’t even sure I was going to make it here.”
In April, she suffered a tear to her right knee’s medial collateral ligament, adding to an already stressful build-up to Paris. But now, astonishingly, at the age of sixteen, Brown has two Olympic medals.
