US teen rollin’ on
Budding songwriter aims to take her board to Tokyo Olympics in 2020
The 14-year-old skateboarder from California frequently wears outfits inspired by 1990s pop music videos. She’s a budding songwriter and jots down lyrics based on life experiences, which she points out have been rather limited so far.
That’s changing fast.
The world of Brighton Zeuner keeps getting bigger and broader, with more notice and exposure.
Zeuner figures to be one of the favorites when skateboarding makes its Olympic debut at the 2020 Tokyo Games. Not that the pressure flusters her.
Her ability and affable nature have led to comparisons to another California teen: Chloe Kim, the Olympic champion snowboarder who became one of the faces of the Pyeongchang Games last February.
“She’s so good,” Zeuner said. “I saw Chloe compete in the Olympics and she’s really talented.”
The teen tandem actually crossed paths in July, when Kim put a gold medal around Zeuner’s neck after the latter won the skateboarding vertical competition at the Summer X Games.
“This is all crazy,” said Zeuner, who won the Vans Park Series final in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, last weekend. “I’m just having fun.”
Because really that’s what it’s always been about.
Zeuner grew up following her older brother to the skate park, where they’d spend hours filming new tricks.
These days, she has a vert ramp in her backyard in San Diego that her father built. Some of the biggest names in skateboarding are known to drop by, even the legendary Tony Hawk.
“Brighton’s really consistent and she likes to challenge herself, which is exactly what it takes at her age to keep progressing and to stay relevant in competition,” Hawk said.
“Her consistency is pretty rare in terms of her making hard tricks over and over. That’s going to help her in competition.”
Although skateboarding will have two disciplines making an appearance at the Tokyo Olympics — park and street — Zeuner’s priority remains park, which takes place in a dome-shaped bowl and features different jumps.
Ask her about the Olympic qualifying process and she goes silent. She really doesn’t know. She leaves that to her family.
The rider sponsored by Red Bull and Vans just trains after finding a sport that finally suits her.
“I was trying so many different things — dancing, softball, Girl Scouts. Didn’t click,” said Zeuner, who took up skateboarding at age 4 and began competing at 8.
“I looked at skateboarding and saw something I could be different in. There are so
I looked at skateboarding and saw something I could be different in. There are so many outlets I can express through it. That’s what I was drawn to.”
Brighton Zeuner, 14-year-old US skateboarding star
many outlets I can express through it. That’s what I was drawn to.”
She’s known for her consistency in the park, along with her progressive tricks, which are always trending upward.
Same with her fashion sense. She frequently scours thrift stores for just the right outfits — a little baggy, with a little ’90s flair. She even started her own business, posting vintage clothes online and shipping them off to customers.
“My mom would show me all this ’90s music and I’d look at the music videos and remember loving the New York scene and the girls in the music videos, how they had all these funky outfits,” Zeuner said.
“I absolutely was so drawn to that.”
The same applies to music. She writes down thoughts for songs and sends them to friends in New York, who set them to a beat.
“Because they have all these cool jazzy beats,” she explained.
Mostly, her lyrics are about life and skateboarding. As for specific examples, well, wait until they’re finished.
“I just write about, about ... I don’t know. I don’t know,” she said, laughing. “I’m still like working on them, developing them.”
These days, she’s been crushing contests, winning events from California to Idaho and overseas.
In 2016, she captured a big event in Malmo, Sweden, and a year later gold at the X Games — a day after her 13th birthday, which made her the youngest winner on the circuit.
In Suzhou, she held off Brazil’s Yndiara Asp and American Jordyn Barratt to win.
The China stop of the VPS Pro Finals series featured the top-ranking 2018 Pro Tour skaters against select VPS Continental Champions to present an extraordinary exhibition of men’s and women’s park terrain skating.
In the lead-up to Tokyo, Zeuner’s biggest rivals happen to be some of her friends, such as 18-year-old Alana Smith, who earned silver in women’s park at the 2013 X Games in Barcelona, and 25-year-old Lizzie Armanto, a highly decorated competitor.
Like Hawk, they’ve been known to drop by her backyard ramp.
“Alana and I grew up in the same place. She was a little older than me and was so gnarly and would skate with all the guys,” said Zeuner, who attends a school that customizes lessons to accommodate her hectic schedule.
“I think that made me want to do that. She’s my biggest inspiration.”
Zeuner insisted nothing has changed despite all of her success.
“I’m that little skate rat — I’d go in the van with all the skate dads and my brother and go skate and film for six hours a day,” Zeuner said.
“I’m still the same girl I’ve always been. I’m just a little bit busier.”