And she did it in front of Tony Hawk
A 13-year-old has made history by landing a “720” on a skateboard.
And the trick was made even sweeter by the fact Australian Arisa Trew nailed it in front of the sport’s biggest icon, Tony Hawk, at his event, Vert Alert in Salt Lake City over the weekend.
Trew won the women’s competition and sent the crowd into overdrive with the manoeuvre, landed during the event’s Best Trick category, and earned herself $75,000.
Hawk pioneered the move in 1985, as well as performing the first ever 900 – one more half rotation – in 1999.
Appearing at the top of the ramp afterwards, Arisa was congratulated by three male competitors.
“It made me feel really happy,” Trew told NBC News on Wednesday.
“I had just landed it and I was so excited and about how they were excited.”
Trew said she was “super excited” to be congratulated by Hawk: “After I landed it he was really excited. He said, ‘Good job” and congrats to me.”
Trew’s coach, Trevor Ward, told NBC that he wasn’t surprised that Trew was so relaxed about her achievement and the global attention it garnered her, saying: “That’s kind of Arisa.”
“She focuses on something. She does it and says ‘OK what’s next?’ She’s one of the easiest people to coach.”
Trew and Ward had been working on the 720 at practice for just two weeks and elected to try it during the Best Trick portion of the event, as the teen had already won the event.
“I knew she was really close when we had done it a few times in Australia so when it came to best trick, I just said to her ‘Let’s just do it’ and she just did it,” Ward said.
Trew hopes to qualify for the skateboarding competition at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
Ward added: “When you got a girl doing a 720, it shows they can do the same as men can. She’s looking at potentially a 900 and trying put this into her run at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.”
Trew later posted on Instagram: “I can’t believe I landed my first 720!!!
“And to be the first girl in the world to land a 7 in competition, thanks for the fun @thvertalert and everyone who helped me land it!!”
Hawk shared a video of Trew’s trick and said: “The level of vert skating continues to exceed all expectations, as @thvertalert brought out the best performances of transition skating all weekend.
“Here are just a few examples, including @arisa_trew’s first 720 that happened just after best trick and brought the house down.”
Ward wrote: “What an amazing experience and journey it’s been with @arisa_trew to land the 720 in competition.
“We started the process not too long ago and in a few hours she was putting it to wheels.
“Then we had to head to Argentina for an @worldskatesb event where Arisa came 7th.
“We knew @lillystoephasius was super close but our eye is on the 2024 Olympics. With a bit of time off between Argentina and Rome we came to the USA to compete at @thvertalert which Arisa won.
“When best trick came I asked her what are we doing? She replied a 720.”
The coach continued: “I knew Lilly would be going for it too. What an amazing scenario. The 2 best vert skaters going head to head to land the 720 in front of the inventor of the trick @tonyhawk.
“Tony was giving both girls tips on how to do the trick. With the hype of the crowd, both girls battled for the trick and in the end, Arisa landed the trick outside of time but became the first girl in history to land the 720.
“We knew it was coming soon. We just didn’t expect it to be on the world stage rather than on our vert ramp back home in Australia.
“Arisa has an amazing mindset and will power to succeed.
“Congrats Arisa you are amazing. Thanks to all that gave her advice.”
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