Skateboarder Sky Brown Reclaims Her Crown As Women’s Park Queen At Dew Tour Des Moines 2022

Fresh off an X Games women’s skateboard park gold medal, Sky Brown kept her winning ways going at Dew Tour Des Moines, coming out on top in the women’s skateboard park competition on Friday night.

Brown’s best run, which scored an 89.66, started off with a crowd (and announcer) favorite frontside 360, then went into frontside stalefish air, alley-oop transfer over the hip, backside tailslide through the corner, backside lipslide, melon air over the box jump, tuck-knee invert, backside Smith grind, frontside ollie, frontside nosegrind, frontside 540, and backside noseblunt Indy.

As they did at X Games, Japan’s Sakura Yosozumi and Cocona Hiraki took silver and bronze, respectively, at Dew Tour. The trio also comprised the podium at last summer’s Tokyo Olympics, with Yosozumi taking gold, Hiraki silver, and Brown bronze there.

“We all have different tricks, and it’s really about the best combos,” Brown told me. “The front 3 is one of my favorite tricks. It was definitely a little hard, but it was really sick. Once the contest really got going, I just knew I was going to put it down.”

The contest also included a best trick component, which Yosozumi took with her backside noseblunt revert on the banked wall extension, the most progressive trick of the contest.

“I wouldn’t be here without her,” Brown said of Yosozumi. The duo, easily the two best women’s park skaters in the world right now, impressed the crowd with their dazzling display of power (Brown), technical ability (Yosozumi) and style (both, in spades).

“She’s best friend, and we push each other so much,” Brown, who is British-Japanese but competes for Great Britain internationally, said of Yosozumi. “She’s like my sister. Skating with her makes me want to go hard. Thank you, Sakura, for doing that!”

Compared to last summer’s Dew Tour, which served as an Olympic qualifier, the vibe this year was much more laid-back. The contest was straight to finals, with eight women comprising the field.

Ahead of the Tokyo Games, it seemed that any woman aiming for Olympic gold would have to include a 540 in her run. Japan’s Misugu Okamoto has been doing them since 2019, Yosozumi landed one for the first time at Dew Tour last year and Sky Brown can do them both ways, frontside and backside.

Brown and Yosozumi did include 540s in their runs (though Yosozumi struggled to land hers cleanly), but this year, it was their frontside 360 and backside noseblunt revert, respectively, that stole the show.

It was a good reminder that as the women’s park field progresses at lightning speed, degrees of rotation is only once piece of the puzzle. Technical ability, style and huge airs will always win the judges’ favor.

Rounding out the field were Mami Tezuka in fourth (72.00), Bryce Wettstein in fith (67.00), Jordyn Barratt in sixth (66.00), Lizzie Armanto in seventh (49.00) and Kisa Nakamura in eighth (33.66).

“I wasn’t that nervous; I was just excited,” Brown said. “I was just watching the crowd and I was like, ‘I want to put on a good show for them!’”

As for what’s next, Brown is going to focus her attention on surfing. Last summer, she participated in the inaugural Vert Alert event put on by her mentor on wheels, Tony Hawk. She’s not sure if she’ll be back this year, but one thing is clear—if there’s a women’s park (or vert) contest, and Brown is in attendance, she’s got to be the favorite to win it.