Teenage skateboarding star Arisa Trew has no plans to slow down
The 15-year-old Australian beamed a wide smile as she was mobbed by her fellow competitors at the top of the ramp after winning the vert best trick competition in thrilling fashion for her eighth X Games gold medal in Salt Lake City on Saturday.
"I was really happy when I landed my kickflip body varial 540 in the best trick competition because that was my first one since my knee injury at the start of the year," she said in an interview this week.
"And it was really fun because they all ran up and were super stoked and congratulating me."
The memorable moment recalled her performance at the Paris Games last summer, where she became Australia's youngest Olympic champion by reaching the top of the park skateboarding podium.
Trew credits her skateboarding journey to her early introduction to skateparks at around age 7 by her father.
She noted that sharing the sport with friends boosted her skills and passion, saying, "I feel like I only started to get good when more girls started skating because it gave me people to skate with, to push off of, and to just have fun with."
Trew's ambition grew when she landed her first 540 — a trick where a skater completes 1½ rotations while airborne.
"There weren't many girls doing 540s, and I thought that was really cool," she said.
This achievement fueled her desire to compete and master new tricks, with the goal of skating alongside other elite female competitors at events like the X Games and the Olympics.
"I wanted to be there skating with them," she said.
Looking ahead, Trew, who grew up on the Gold Coast in Queensland and spends time training in the U.S., is set to defend her Olympic title at the Los Angeles Games in 2028 at age 18 and plans to compete again in Brisbane four years later.
Despite her future plans, she remains focused on each event, with Tony Hawk's Vert Alert in Salt Lake City later this month the next on her schedule.
"I just like try to get better every time because there are definitely a lot of improvements I need to make at each competition," she said.
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