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The world of skateboarding may have experienced a passing of the torch.
On Saturday, 9-year-old Ema Kawakami successfully executed a “900” — two 360-degree spins and a 180-degree one — not once or twice, but three times in a row.
According to X Games, the wunderkind Kawakami is the first person to ever successfully accomplish the feat.
What enhances the feat is that Kawakami did so while skateboarding icon Tony Hawk, 56, was watching with a keen eye at his Vert Alert event at the University of Utah.
“He’s got it, he’s got it!” shouted Hawk on the TV broadcast as Kawakami twirled in the air before the final 900.
Hawk completed the first ever 900 in 1999 at X Games 5.
Hawk is widely regarded as the best skater ever.
During his illustrious career, Hawk won 10 gold medals and is a member of both the Skateboarding Hall of Fame and the California Hall of Fame.
Despite the tremendous achievement, Kawakami didn’t place in the top three in the Vert Alert rankings for either Men’s Final or Best Trick.
This year’s event, which took place from June 14-15, offered participants a chance to qualify for X Games California, which will be held June 28-30 in Ventura, Calif.
Hawk launched Vert Alert in August 2021 alongside storied X Games skateboarder Andy Macdonald as a means for younger skaters to flaunt their skills.
A month before the start of Vert Alert, skateboarding became an Olympic sport in Tokyo in 2021, with Australia’s Keegan Palmer taking home gold in Men’s Park and Japan’s Yuto Horigome winning gold in Men’s Street.
The sport will return to the Olympic stage in July in Paris — and might need to keep its attention on Kawakami in future years.
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