The Best Current Women Skateboarders
By
Will Brown
Contributor Updated: 10 October 2024
Will Brown Contributor
William Brown is a Content Writer with strong expertise in US and global gambling industry trends. Having covered the local sports betting market since the repeal of PASPA in 2018, William approaches his gambling guides with passion and diligence. He is a keen player of online slots, blackjack, and a regular sports bettor.
Current Women Skateboarders
During the Paris Olympics, the world was introduced to some of the most exciting and emerging women skateboarders currently in competition. While skateboarding was long considered to be a male-dominated sport, the latest trends show that the future of the activity will likely be defined by a greater investment in female talent. In this comprehensive guide, we’ve looked at the best current female skateboarders in the world.
Intro to Famous Skateboarders Who Are Female
To kick this guide off, we’ve shared a brief history of women’s involvement in skateboarding, including details for some of the most famous skateboarders who are female of all time. From there, we’ve highlighted the rising stars of the sport, from countercultural icons to Olympic athletes.
From there, we’ve looked at the biggest skateboarding contests for women in the world so you know where and when to catch the action. To round out the guide, we’ve covered the countries that are producing the top women skateboarding talent and what the future of the sport looks like for women.
- History of Top Female Skateboarders
- The Rising Stars
- Major Women’s Skateboarding Contests
- Top Countries for Women’s Skateboarding
- Future Outlook for Female Skateboarding
A History of The Best Female Skateboarder Athletes
Since skateboarding was invented in the 1950s, women have been an enduring yet often overlooked presence. Often considered to be the best female skateboarder of her generation, Patti McGee first set a world record for the fastest girl on a skateboard in the 1960s. This earned her a spot on the front cover of Life Magazine in 1965.
In the 1970s, Peggy Oki became the first and only female member of the iconic Zephyr team, or “Z-Boys”, and earned a reputation for her surf-like skating style. Along with McGee, Oki was a pioneer of women in the sport and was instrumental in driving more female engagement.
This was seen in both the 1980s and 1990s, as athletes like Cara-Beth Burnside played a pivotal role in the sport for women. Burnside is considered to be the first to gain considerable recognition for her talents by the wider community, which led to the inclusion of women’s events in major competitions such as the X Games.
Elissa Steamer, who turned pro in 1998, was another celebrated skateboarder who won many victories in the X Games, with the 2000s seeing figures such as Leticia Bufoni and Lacey Baker dominate the scene. In 2005, female skateboarders boycotted the X Games after discovering that male winners were paid 25 times more than women.
By 2008, the prize money was equalized, making the sport one of the first to establish greater equality for men and women. The role of women skateboarders in the sport’s history is undeniable, and when it came time to include it in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, a women’s category was immediately established.
The Rising Stars of Women’s Skateboarding
With some of the most successful female skateboarders now covered, we want to share details about some rising stars in the sport. If you caught the Paris 2024 Olympics, you may recognize some of the following names, several of whom have won gold in the previous two games.
Mariah Duran
Born in 1996 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Mariah Duran is an American street skateboarder who has dominated the ranks over the past ten years. Duran has won several X Games medals and competed in the women’s street events in both the Tokyo and Paris Games. She is known for her technicality and smooth style.
Yndiara Asp
Yndiara Asp is a 27-year-old Brazillian native and professional park skateboarder. An icon in her native country, Asp has also been successful in international events such as the X Games and Vans Park Series. She represented Brazil in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and finished 8th in the park event. Asp is known for her big airs and colorful style.
Arisa Trew
At only 14 years old, Arisa Trew made history this year by becoming Australia’s youngest athlete to win an Olympic gold medal. The park skateboarder also made history at the 2023 X Games by being the first female skateboarder to land a 720 in a competition. Trew is perhaps the best female skateboarder in park skating in the world.
Hiraki Cocona
Hiraki Cocona is one of several women skateboarders hailing from Japan who have dominated the competition. At 12 years old, she won a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics park skating event, only to back it up with another silver in Paris this year. Cocona is known for her consistency, technical ability, and level-headed approach.
Sky Brown
British-Japenese skateboarder Sky Brown is a prodigy of both surging and skateboarding and has been competing professionally since she was 10 years old. At the Tokyo Olympics, she won a bronze for park skateboarding, repeating the achievement at the Paris 2024 Games. Known for her energetic style and big air tricks, she has a large social media following too.
Rayssa Leal
Among the most famous skateboarders who are female is Rayssa Leal, a Brazillian professional street skateboarder who gained viral fame after a video of her heel flipping in a fairy costume spread online. Leal became Brazil’s youngest Olympic medalist with a silver win at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics at age 13 and followed it up with a bronze at the Paris Games this year.
Sakura Yosozumi
Sakura Yosozumi is a Japanese park skateboarder who shot to fame by winning gold for her performance at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She’s a multiple-time X Games medalist who has earned recognition for her technical prowess on the board. Other achievements include golds at the Asian Games and World Championships.
Coco Yoshizawa
After winning gold at the Paris 2024 Olympics for park skateboarding, Coco Yoshizawa could be considered to be the world’s best female skateboarder in this category. She first competed in the Tokyo Olympics at the age of 10 and has proven herself to be fearless in competition.
Major Women’s Skateboarding Competitions
Since the 1990s, major skateboarding competitions have been instrumental in developing and launching the careers of countless female skateboarders. This was after decades of women being sidelined in favor of male competitions. Now, the women’s categories attract plenty of attention and investment. The X Games, which has been around since 1995, is one of the biggest platforms for women skateboarders.
The event features disciplines such as vert and street, with the women’s categories established after much campaigning by Cara-Beth Burnside. Another major event is the Van Park Series, which was established in 2016 to showcase park skateboarders. Equal prize money is awarded to both men and women.
The Street League Skateboarding (SLS) World Tour also incorporates women’s divisions, though Exposure Skate is known for being the largest women’s only skateboarding event in the world. Since 2020, the Olympics has also been a major skateboarding competition for global female athletes, so it’s best to keep this in mind when you bet on the Olympic Games in the future.
The Top Countries for Women’s Skateboarding
When considering who is the best female skateboarder, you will likely be surprised to find that many only hail from a handful of countries. These include Brazil, the United States, Japan, and Australia. Brazil has an especially strong skateboarding community and a supportive culture that nurtures female talent in particular.
While Japan has long been passionate about skateboarding, the government invested heavily in training programs in the lead-up to the Tokyo 2020 Games, which has had lasting impacts today. In the USA and Australia, the country’s strong surf culture likely has a big impact on its skating prowess, with each offering plenty of sponsorship opportunities to emerging female talent.
The Future Outlook of Women’s Skateboarding
The future of women’s professional skateboarding looks especially bright in the wake of the Paris Olympics. The sport continues to grow in popularity, and the exposure of female participation to young girls is only fuelling this. This is important to note, as young women tend to be the most successful of the female skateboarders.
We expect that more competitions will arise with prize money parity, which will further encourage athletes to pursue the activity professionally. As media coverage and grassroots popularity grow, it’s likely that so too will corporate sponsorship. With Japan, Brazil, Australia, and the USA performing especially well, expect more rising stars from these nations.
