SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Not only did a 13-year-old girl take first place at Tony Hawk’s Vert Alert Competition in Salt Lake City this weekend, but she also made history by becoming the first female to ever land a 720 in a competition.
Tony Hawk’s Vert Alert (THVA) competition announced Arisa Trew, a 13-year-old Australian skater, as the first-place winner in the Women’s Final 2023 and the first woman in the world to land a 720 in a competition.
She also did it in front of Tony Hawk, the legend known as the first person to ever complete a 720, and in his very own competition.
Trew completed the trick after the “Best Trick” competition time had run out, however, because she was so close to making a trick that has never been done, also known as “NBD,” organizers allowed her to continue skating into the men’s section of the competition. Representatives say while the men were warming up and walking up the ladder, she landed the 720.
While competition officials originally believed her to be the first female to ever land a 720, they later discovered the first to be a young Japanese skater named Hikari Sitake who had landed a 720 in Japan. Because Sitake had not landed it in a competition the accomplishment was largely unknown to the skating community, according to representatives.
While Trew is young to be making headlines, many of the female skaters in the competition are still in their teens. THVA representatives said the average age in this year’s Women’s Finals was 15 years old, which they see as a good sign.
“It just goes to show that vert skating is coming back up again and there’s a whole new group of amazingly talented very young skaters leading the way,” THVA representative Jared Prindle said.
Prindle said all competition decisions are made with the mindset of supporting vert skating, as that is Hawk, and his team’s, focus.
Skateboarding legend Tony Hawk started The Vert Alert Competition in 2021 in Salt Lake City as part of the opening of a brand new street-style skateboarding course at the Utah Fairgrounds. Tony Hawk partnered with Vans and the Utah Sports Commission to make it happen.
At the time of the skatepark’s opening, the President & CEO of the Utah Sports Commission said the two-day competition would be “terrific for the Utah skateboarding community as well as skateboarding globally.”
“I look forward to seeing some of the world’s top skateboarding athletes and Olympians compete in Salt Lake City,” he said in 2021.
Now, two years later, it seems his hope for the community is already being realized.