HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. — Professional skateboarder and Huntington Beach resident Sky Brown had a successful 2021. The 13-year-old skateboarder won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics, and she also won a gold medal at the X Games.

She now has a new honor for 2021, as she was named the recipient of the annual BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year. The honor is for sportspersons 17 years of age or under.

“I want to make Britain proud as much as I can,” Beach said at the official award ceremony in the United Kingdom. Beach was visiting family in the UK for Christmas and was able to attend the event.

Brown was born in 2008 in Miyazaki, Japan, and is of Japanese and British descent. She spends most of the year in the Huntington Beach area due to a lack of skate parks and skating infrastructure in Miyazaki.

Brown competes for the United Kingdom in international events. She states that the British Skateboarding Association is easier to compete under and has a more relaxed attitude to sport.

This year, Brown competed in the skateboarding park event at the Ariake Urban Sports Park in Tokyo during the 2020 Olympics. Brown secured her spot on the podium by finishing more than three points ahead of the fourth-place finisher. She finished in third place, giving her the bronze medal.

At 13 years of age, Brown was the youngest Summer Olympics competitor in British history. She wasn’t the youngest contender during the Olympics, as 12-year-old Hend Zaza competed for Syria in table tennis.

Brown also competed in the 2021 X Games in California in the skateboarding park event. She finished with a gold medal.

2021 has been a great year for Brown, but all this success almost didn’t happen. In May of last year, Brown was training in the Huntington Beach area when she fell from a halfpipe ramp. She had a broken wrist and hand and a few skull fractures.

Brown has expressed interest in both surfing and skateboarding, but her injury has made it to where competing in both sports might be a challenge.

“I feel like I skate on my surfboard and surf on my skateboard anyway,” Brown said to the Evening Standard.

She is looking forward to continuing to compete in future skateboarding events, possibly with the hope of competing in the 2024 Paris Olympics and even the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Her love for skateboarding is a great asset she holds.

“Skateboarding teaches kids to be confident,” she said.

Brown joins a list of top-level athletes who have won the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year honor. Among the athletes who have won this award in the past include soccer star Wayne Rooney, tennis pro Andy Murray, platform diver Tom Daley and amateur boxer Caroline Dubois.

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