Tokyo 2020 skate hope Sky Brown, 11, ‘lucky to be alive’ after fall
- Great Britain’s Tokyo 2020 skateboarding hopeful suffers fractured skull and breaks wrist and hand in California
- Youngster tells Instagram followers that she ‘will come back stronger next year’ in video from hospital bed
Sky Brown, the 11-year-old skateboarding prodigy who hoped to become Great Britain’s youngest athlete at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, is “lucky to be alive” after crashing in training last week.
Brown, who has opted to represent Britain over Japan, fell as she was trying to transfer from one ramp to another in California last Thursday.
A video was posted to her Instagram account, which is run by her Japanese mother Mieko, on Tuesday morning that shows the moment she lost the board midway between the two half-pipes before cutting away.
The video, which has been watched more than 236,000 times, then shows an air ambulance and scenes from hospital before showing a bruised Brown in a hospital bed. The BBC reported that Brown suffered a fractured skull along with breaks to her left hand and wrist.
“Sky landed headfirst off a ramp on her hand,” her British father Stu said. “When she first came to hospital, everyone was fearful for her life.” He also said that the hospital staff were impressed with her positivity. “Sky had the gnarliest fall she's ever had and is lucky to be alive,” he added.