a 13 year old boy Australian girl nailed a “720” becoming the first female skater to competitively land two spins in the air and pulling off the incredible move in front of the sport’s pioneer, Tony Hawk.
arisa trew won the women’s competition at Hawk’s Vert Alert in Salt Lake City over the weekend.
The crowd roared as Trew, wearing a pink helmet and blowing ponytail, performed the move.
When she finished, three male competitors rushed to hug her and congratulate her.
“It made me feel very happy,” Trew told NBC News on Wednesday. “I had just landed and I was so excited and about how excited they were.”
Even 72 hours after the historic stunt, the teen didn’t seem to comprehend the enormity of her feat.
“Is it big enough?” she said, when she was asked if the feat had caught on.
Her trainer, Trevor Ward, said he’s not surprised Trew is so taken aback by the global attention she’s receiving.
“That’s kind of like Arisa,” Ward said. “It focuses on something. She does and says ‘OK, what’s next?’ She is one of the easiest people to train.”
Trew and Ward had been working on the 720 in practice for the past two weeks.
They chose to go for it in the best trick portion of the competition after Trew had already won the event, so he had nothing to lose.
“I knew she was very close when we had done it a few times in Australia, so when it came to the best trick, I just said ‘Let’s do it’ and she just did it,” Ward said.
The 720 is a signature move from the godfather of skateboarding Hawk, who first pulled the trick in 1985.
“It was super exciting” to receive the congratulations in person from Hawk, Trew said. “After I landed, he was very excited. He said, ‘Good job,’ and congratulated me.”
Trew hopes to qualify for the skateboarding competition at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
“When you have a girl doing a 720, it shows that she can do the same thing as the guys,” Ward said. “She’s potentially looking at a 900 and trying to put this into her career at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.”
