Ramping up: Teen skateboarder may be force come Tokyo

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. Nope, she just skates. 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.

Now that’s high praise. “She’s so good,” Zeuner said . “I saw Chloe compete in the Olympics and she’s really talented.”

The tandem crossed paths in July, when Kim put a gold medal around Zeuner’s neck after Zeuner won the skateboarding vert competition at the Summer X Games.

“This is all crazy,” said Zeuner , who won the Vans Park Series final this weekend in China. “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, Zeuner has a vert ramp in her backyard in San Diego that her father had built. Some of the biggest names in skateboarding are known to drop by, even the skateboarding legend himself, Tony Hawk .

“She’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.”

Perhaps in Tokyo, where she will have just turned 16 should she earn a spot. Although skateboarding has two disciplines making an appearance at the Olympics — park and street — her priority remains park, which takes place in a dome-shaped bowl and features different jumps.

Ask her about the 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,” explained Zeuner, who took up skateboarding around 4 and began competing at 8. “I looked at skateboarding and saw something I could be different in. There are so many outlets I can express through skateboarding. That’s what I was drawn to.”