Sky Brown became Great Britain’s youngest-ever Olympic medallist after winning bronze in Tokyo last year – but the 13-year-old skateboarding prodigy’s remarkable tale of recovery to get there is what truly sets her apart. In May 2020, Brown was left with a multiple-fractured skull and broken arm after a “horrific” half-pipe fall in training in California. Her father Stuart, who was filming, said his daughter was “ lucky to be alive ” having been unresponsive upon arrival at the hospital via an emergency helicopter. A little more than a year later, Japan-born Brown not only made it for the postponed Tokyo Games, but won a medal in the park event – etching her name in the history as the sport made its Olympic debut. Brown also won gold in the X Games last summer. “As soon as I woke up I was just thinking about skateboarding again,” a bubbly Brown said in an interview organised by the Laureus World Sports Awards, where she has been nominated for 2021 “Comeback of the Year”. “It was really easy for me [to return], actually. I was just so excited to get back on the board, back on my playground and on my toy. “It was actually harder to have my parents let me get back no my board. It was a really tough time for them because my dad saw it in real life, my mum was sleeping in the car when it happened, and [younger brother] Ocean was watching from behind. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sky Brown (@skybrown) “It was just a super hard time for my family, but for me, I was so excited to get back on the board. The doctors were saying … I don’ t know, I just felt confident I could skate again.” Within a few days, the then-11-year-old posted a video montage of the fall and aftermath, telling fans from her hospital bed not to worry and that she would be back “stronger and tougher” from the “gnarliest fall” of her career. Brown, who won an Olympic qualification event the previous year with her arm in a cast, shared the women’s park podium with Japanese teenagers Sakura Yosozumi and Kokona Hiraki. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sky Brown (@skybrown) The trio also went on to win the Games’ “fair play award” alongside four other skaters after they collectively rushed to comfort fourth-placed Misugu Okamoto, who crashed on her decisive final run. Everything was extra special given it all happened in her and her mother Mieko’s birthplace. “Tokyo was the best experience ever,” said Brown, who fell in her opening two runs at the Ariake Urban Sports Park. “I met so many people and it was just an amazing journey qualifying, travelling around the world and skating with all my friends at different parks. Skating in the skate park and getting a medal with my friends was just like a dream. “Being in Japan and getting that medal skateboarding for Great Britain was just insane and it was the perfect place, too. Japan has my heart, and I feel like we showed how beautiful [skateboarding] was, how everything is just improving. Every girl out there was ripping and I just couldn’t believe it. “That feeling of being on the Olympic podium just fired me up. It made me want to get a gold medal next time.” Fourteen-year-old Japanese skateboarder Momiji Nishiya, who won Tokyo gold in the street event , is also nominated for Laureus’ World Action Sportsperson of the Year. “Momiji is insane,” Brown said. “Especially now I feel like there’s even more girls of my age and even younger than me coming. It’s definitely fun having people around my age – we get to show the older ones what’s up.” As if targeting an Olympic medal in one discipline were not enough, Brown also eyes a surfing spot at the next Games. She outlined her early morning surfing routines – “depending on the waves” – before guzzling down her mother breakfast and finishing school work, then heading to nearby skate parks to work on tricks. Brown also noted that her “mum hides lots of vegetables in our food – she chops it super small” while “I try not to go on my phone so much – I have a limit sometimes to only go on for 10 minutes a day”. “Yes, for sure [I want to surf at the Olympics],” Brown said. “I know it’s gonna be pretty hard but I’m gonna try my best because I love them both. I couldn’t pick between them and it was kind of hard last Olympics how I couldn’t surf. This [time], I’m really hoping to.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Tony Hawk (@tonyhawk) To say Brown has so much to look forward to is an understatement. She will still be a teenager by Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028, while the legendary Tony Hawk has already called her “a unicorn” and “one of the best … regardless of gender”. Brown is also doing her part in inspiring a new generation of women’s skaters and surfers from Japan, the US and Great Britain. “It just really pushes me when [fans] come up to me and [I see] my following. It motivates me to inspire and push boundaries. I just wanna inspire people and girls. It makes me wanna go even harder,” she said. “Honestly, I try not to look that far ahead. I try to think about what’s happening now and enjoy life, but the furthest I’m thinking about is Paris and maybe LA. I really want to get in for surfing and skating so I’m definitely concentrating on that. “I love competing but my parents don’t. They were already conceding that I was not gonna compete in the [Tokyo] Olympics – they were like ‘no, it’s way too much’. They thought it was a lot of pressure, and it is, you know, when the whole world is watching you. But I love competing. I hope to do it for as long as I can with my friends.”