A 13-year-old skateboarder made history this week after she became the first woman to ever perform a 720. And if breaking such monumental ground in her sport wasn’t impressive enough, Arisa Trew managed the 720 achievement in front of the most iconic skateboarder of all time, Tony Hawk, who first did it back in 1985.
Trew, who’s from the Gold Coast in Australia, was performing at Vert Alert, an event held in Salt Lake City, Utah, that Hawk set up in support of vert ramp skating. Competing in the Best Trick category, Arisa Trew did two complete spins while in the air during one of her runs, effectively making her the first woman to ever perform a 720. How incredible is that?!
However, if making history wasn’t enough, Trew was also awarded a good portion of the $75,000 on offer at the competition. She also qualifies for the X Games, which is well-deserved!
Sharing videos of her achievement on Instagram, Trew wrote that she was as shocked as anyone when she managed to land her 720 and expressed her enthusiasm for the competition.
“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!!” she wrote.
Arisa Trew will go down in history for her incredible 720
Tony Hawk even shared a video of history being made, writing, “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. We’re still here; just look up.”
Of course, Arisa Trew didn’t just wake up and suddenly land a 720. As her coach Trev Ward revealed, this has been a long time coming and is the result of much hard work. It was also a skill that her fellow skateboarder Lilly Stoephasius is trying to master.
“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,” he wrote. “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.”
Ward added: “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 willpower to succeed. Congrats Arisa you are amazing. Thanks to all that gave her advice.”
