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Skateboard prodigy Sky Brown on recovery from ‘horrific’ injuries to win Olympic medal – ‘super hard time for my family’

  • The 13-year-old is nominated for the Laureus Comeback of the Year award after reaching Tokyo podium a year after fracturing skull
  • ‘I really want to get in for surfing and skating so I’m definitely concentrating on that,’ Brown says of Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028 Games

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Great Britain’s Sky Brown with Sakura Yosozumi and Kokona Hiraki, of Japan, after the women’s skateboarding park finals at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Ariake Urban Sports Park. Photo: Getty Images
Andrew McNicol
Sky Brown became Great Britain’s youngest-ever Olympic medallist after winning bronze in Tokyo last year – but the 13-year-old skateboarding prodigy’s remarkable tale of recovery to get there is what truly sets her apart.
In May 2020, Brown was left with a multiple-fractured skull and broken arm after a “horrific” half-pipe fall in training in California. Her father Stuart, who was filming, said his daughter was “lucky to be alive” having been unresponsive upon arrival at the hospital via an emergency helicopter.

A little more than a year later, Japan-born Brown not only made it for the postponed Tokyo Games, but won a medal in the park event – etching her name in the history as the sport made its Olympic debut. Brown also won gold in the X Games last summer.

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“As soon as I woke up I was just thinking about skateboarding again,” a bubbly Brown said in an interview organised by the Laureus World Sports Awards, where she has been nominated for 2021 “Comeback of the Year”.

Sky Brown, of Great Britain, in the women’s skateboarding park heats event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Ariake Urban Sports Park. Photo: Getty Images
Sky Brown, of Great Britain, in the women’s skateboarding park heats event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Ariake Urban Sports Park. Photo: Getty Images

“It was really easy for me [to return], actually. I was just so excited to get back on the board, back on my playground and on my toy.

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