Skateboarder Olympic hopeful fractures skull in training
Team GB’s 11-year-old skateboarder Sky Brown is ‘lucky to be alive’ after fracturing her skull in a horror accident in training.
Brown, who is set to become Britain’s youngest summer Olympian in Tokyo, flew off her skateboard at the top of a high ramp and landed head-first on hard ground.
She was airlifted to hospital and was unresponsive on arrival but is now expected to make a full recovery, despite breaking her hand and wrist and injuring her skull.
Brown’s dad, Stewart, said: ‘Sky’s had the gnarliest fall she’s ever had and is lucky to be alive.
‘She landed head-first off a ramp on her hand. When she first came to hospital, everyone was fearful for her life.’Sky remains positive and strong, the whole medical team is shocked to see her positivity.’
Brown posted footage of her fall on her Instagram page and YouTube, in a video which also included shots of her being carried to the helicopter and the sound of her heartbeat flatlining in hospital.
Speaking from her hospital bed, sporting a black eye and a cast on her left arm, she said: ‘I don’t usually post my falls or talk about them because I want people to see the fun in what I do.
She is the youngest professional skateboarder in the world, and has also won the American TV programme Dancing with the Stars in the juniors category.
She is also the youngest Nike sponsored athlete in the world and has featured in an ad campaign alongside Serena Williams and Simone Biles. Brown is also a keen surfer, who spends most of her time training in California in the USA.
‘But this was my worst fall. I just want everyone to know that it’s OK, don’t worry, I’m OK. I’m just going to get back up and push even harder.’
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Brown was born in Japan to a Japanese mother but her father is British. The 2019 World Skateboarding Championship bronze medallist will have just turned 13 by the time the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics take place in July 2021.