Teens on Top: Women Skateboarders Make X Games History in Ventura

Women’s skateboarding is still rising up after dropping into the X Games scene 20 years ago. At that time, the majority of this year’s X Games California women skaters weren’t even alive yet.

Arisa Trew Puts the Gold in Gold Coast

The summer games in Ventura (July 21-23) saw the return of women’s skateboard vert, making an appearance on the event list for the first time since 2010. On Saturday, ten competitors hit the half-pipe for a 36-minute ordered jam session with 45 seconds per run.

Breakout Aussie star Arisa Trew, at 13-years old, led the podium, thanks to her ambitious efforts to land a 720. After a first unsuccessful attempt, she became the first woman to ever land the trick in X Games history in her last run, shooting her to the top of the leaderboard. 

“I wanted to do the seven [720] and so I had two chances in case I fell, which I did. So on my last one, I knew I had to do it, and that’s when I landed it,” Trew told the Independent. “I was more happy that I landed my seven [than getting gold] because I didn’t really care about the results.”

Reese Nelson of Canada, at age 10, earned second for her stellar performance, including a kickflip boardslide fakie, becoming the youngest competitor to ever medal at the X Games. Japan’s 16-year-old Asahi Kaihara rounded out the podium with a bronze medal finish.

Back in 2011, X Games cited the event’s lack of popularity and growth as reasoning for scrapping it, to the disappointment of many women skaters. 

“This, unfortunately, is going to end the growth for women’s vert skating as we know it,” then 21-year-old Lyn Z Adams Hawkins said in an interview with ESPN. 

But the event seems to be in a renaissance, with Tony Hawk as a key supporter — his Vert Alert competition on July 5 was an X Games qualifier. This year, the massive crowd and impressive skills might mean the women’s event is here to stay.

“The crowd was really helpful because it’s so cool when they cheer and make so much noise,” Trew said. “It really hyped me up and all the other girls and it’s much different because I feel like at one of the events back at home, it would not be this crowded.”

After her win, Trew hugged fellow Gold Coast 13-year-old skateboarder Chloe Covell, who had also won gold earlier that day. Covell became the youngest ever winner of women’s street skateboarding and first Australian woman to win a summer X Games event, beating Trew to it by just a few hours.

Mariah Duran Wins Women’s Best Street Trick

Sunday’s women’s street best trick brought back the podium-finishers from earlier in the weekend, including Liz Akama and Momiji Nishiya, who trailed Covell in Saturday’s street competition. Akama and Covell scored silver and bronze, respectively, for their tricks, but it was 26-year-old Mariah Duran of Albuquerque who ended up making the top spot.

Building up speed had been an issue for her, but she ended up landing a hardflip over the stairs, shocking the announcers. “Wow … that could not have been any cleaner,” they remarked.

After landing the hardflip, Duran sat nearby to watch the rest of the competitors. She cheered on Covell as she went for attempt seven and looked genuinely upset when Brazil’s Rayssa Leal didn’t land her trick. Try as they might, no one was able to top her trick and she got the gold.

“That’s my breakfast,” she joked after biting the medal.

Though this marks Duran’s third X Games gold medal, she wasn’t sure if she could pull it off again.

“I didn’t know if I was gonna stay today, I’ve been sore the past like three days … but we did it and [feel] just super blessed to come out with the gold,” she said. “I definitely blacked out on this one. But it was just trusting the whole process … being patient for that right one [and] not getting frustrated if it wasn’t the first try.”

Park Finale Rounds Out Weekend of Women’s Skating

Grace Marhoefer (at age 20) just moved to San Diego from Cocoa Beach, Florida to continue her pro skateboarding career. San Diego is a birthplace of skateboarding and a hotspot for action sports in general. More X Games athletes hail from San Diego County than any other place this year, with eight athletes from the area represented in all three sports.

“Everybody I’ve met [in San Diego], they all kind of came out to support me and honestly, I’m so grateful for all of them,” she said. “Coming from a small town in Florida, you are skating alone almost every day. So it’s a cool change to … try to progress with everybody.”

Following a run including her signature eggplant and a smith-grind on the rail, Marhoefer took home her first ever X Games medal, finishing third.

“I was so excited,” she said. “There’s so many different features you can use … you can get so creative on this course.’”

Riding in her opposite stance from normal, Trew skated smoothly to an 88.33, landing all her tricks and another gold. But once again, she felt the bigger win was the run itself.

“[After yesterday] I’m even more happy because I mainly just want to land my run even if I didn’t get gold, I was just wanting to … get a podium and I got gold in both [events], which is amazing.”

Trew’s win in the park makes her the youngest double-gold medalist in X Games history, breaking Shawn White’s long-standing record.

Gender Disparities Continue

Though women’s skateboarding has been able to grow throughout its 20 years at the Games, women’s BMX and motocross have had a rockier path. There were no women invited for BMX or motocross this year — but that doesn’t mean they’re not out there. 

International women’s BMX competitions have launched many women to pro status and a few have worked their way to the X Games for practice sessions but were never able to secure invites, even after years of negotiations. Women’s motocross also had a short-lived career at the X Games, existing in various event forms from 2008 to 2013.

Ultimately, the momentum for women’s action sports is there, especially with the recent introduction of both men’s and women’s skateboarding and BMX to the Olympics. The question is whether or not X Games will choose to keep the wheels rolling.

‘We’re All Friends’ — Women’s Skating Thrives on Community

The pool of pro women in action sports is relatively small, so throughout constant traveling across the world, they get to know one another. The women’s skating competitions at the X Games were further proof of this, with the women’s skaters consistently showing one another support with post-run hugs and fist bumps.

“We’re all friends basically. So when we go to international comps, we all see each other and skate … it’s so much fun,” Trew said.

Marhoefer also emphasized how amazing it’s been to travel the world with her fellow women skaters. “You get to experience those different cultures and those different people,” she said.

Possibly due to the sport’s short history, advantages to being smaller, and an increasing fearlessness, many of the best women’s skaters at the X Games and across the world are currently in their teens. For older skaters like Duran, this isn’t a bad thing.

“They’re keeping me going, you know. I’m having to ‘start my car’ every morning, get it going,” Duran said with a laugh. “No, it’s amazing — I think skateboarding is in a really special place for sure.”

Now emerging is an even younger generation of girls that look up to 13-year-olds like Trew. One little girl had to stand on a chair to see over the railing during the park competition. “Woah!” she exclaimed as the girls came flying up the ramp towards her. 

“You could do this someday,” her dad told her.