When Sky Brown won the bronze medal in women’s skateboarding at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, she became Great Britain’s youngest ever medallist. More young women than ever are choosing to take up the sport, but are still significantly outnumbered by young men.
Brown is competing again in Paris, along with 16-year-old Lola Tambling. While Brown is based outside the UK, Tambling emerged from the grassroots UK skateboarding scene, having started skateboarding at a Cornish skatepark run by her parents.
So what’s it like to be a girl skateboarder in the UK today? To find out we conducted a 20-month study of young woman skateboarders, funded by The Leverhulme Trust. We focused on three skate parks and related skate spaces in and near to two cities, one in north-west England and the other two in the English midlands.
