GRACE’S OLYMPIC SKATE HOPES

THE coronavirus crisis has meant different things to different people, and for Hobart elite skateboarder Grace Cochrane it means her shot at the Tokyo Olympic Games is alive and “kick-flipping”.

The 17-year-old Elizabeth College student is ranked inside the top five in Australia for skills on her board.

With one of the three spots on the Aussie team already taken by Poppy Starr Olsen, of Newcastle, amazing Grace hopes to snag one of the two places still available for the sport’s Olympic debut.

“It would be the most amazing opportunity to go to the Olympics and an honour to represent my country,” she said. “Qualifying has pretty much gone back to scratch, so everyone gets a second chance to get those other two spots.

“We are waiting to hear when it will resume — it will probably be at the end of the year — and there will be qualifying rounds you have to get through and you will get points based on how far you get through.”

In the move back to normal existence, skate parks are open again, and Grace is back to the grind and up to her old tricks — and some new ones.

“I’m going to focus on what needs to be done and go into next year with a fresh mindset,” she said.

“Improving consistency is really important. You need to land your tricks in high-pressure situations, and learning new tricks is important as well.

“It has been hard to improve during quarantine, but now skate parks are open I’ve been skating every day.”