Aussie skateboarder Chloe Covell, 13, wins X Games gold
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Australian skateboarding prodigy Chloe Covell, 13, has won the women’s street competition at the X Games in California.
Covell earned the biggest victory of her young career on Saturday at the coastal Ventura County Fairgrounds, where she became the youngest winner in the X Games’ street skating discipline.
The teenager from Tweed Heads on the NSW-Queensland border beat a strong field including Olympic gold medallist Momiji Nishiya of Japan and Brazilian star Leticia Bufoni.
Covell had already won a bronze medal in Chiba, Japan, and a silver medal in California last year in the X Games, becoming the youngest skater with two podium finishes in the competition’s history.
She took gold in Ventura with an impressive final run that included a heel flip down a flight of stairs and a 50-50 kickflip.
Impressive though her achievement is, Gui Khury remains the youngest gold medallist in X Games history after winning the men’s best vert trick competition at 12 years old in 2021.
Covell started skating at six years old after seeing American star Nyjah Huston while she watched the X Games on television with her father.
She has shot to the top of the sport in the past two years, putting her in prime position to earn a place in the Paris Olympic Games next year.
Japan’s Liz Akama took silver in women’s street in Ventura, while Nishiya finished with bronze after falling early in her final run.
US Olympian Jagger Eaton won the men’s street competition.
AP
