Teenage skater Chloe Covell shook off the disappointment of coming home empty-handed from the Olympic Games by winning gold in the women’s street competition at the X Games in Japan last month.
A string of falls in Paris ended Covell’s dream of becoming Australia’s youngest gold medallist, but in Chiba, Japan, she channelled that disappointment into a 87.3 run to claim the second X Games gold of her career at just 14 years old.
Australian skateboarder Chloe Covell.Credit: Rhett Wyman
Now, she gets the ultimate prize.
“I have a thing me and my dad do, if I get first place I can get a prize, and after Japan X Games just then, my prize is to get a jet ski,” Covell says.
“I was pretty disappointed [after Paris] because it’s a once in a long-time opportunity, but I guess I’ve just got to come back stronger and harder for the next Olympics in LA. [At the] X Games I just wanted to skate my hardest.”
Regardless of her result in Paris, Covell said the trip to the Olympics was an unforgettable experience.
Chloe Covell performs a kickflip.Credit: Rhett Wyman
“It was the most amazing thing ever, it was so cool just being there with all my friends and seeing all the really famous athletes. It was a little overwhelming, but it was really cool,” Covell said.
“I got a photo with Rafael Nadal and I saw a bunch of famous people. I saw Snoop Dogg, and I got a photo with Snoop Dogg which is probably the best thing ever.”
Covell said the expectations she put on herself, and the pressure of representing Australia, wore on her confidence in Paris.
“I was overthinking quite a bit, and I was really nervous … when you know you can do something it makes it a little more nerve-wracking and disappointing,” Covell said.
“But [at the] X Games I kind of just let everything go. I was having fun, I wasn’t thinking about anything, I was just having so much fun, and I wasn’t nervous or anything. I guess that’s what I’ve got to do now.”
Skaters are sent the course plan and photos a couple of weeks in advance, and when Covell looked at the course in Chiba, she knew it would suit her.
“I do some planning on what tricks I want to do,” Covell said. “It looked so fun. Everything was really small, there was one big rail which was pretty good, but when I saw it I was like, that’s going to be a really fun course – the flow of it, and it’s just so much less scary and more fun.”
Her “go-to” move is either a switch kickflip down a set of stairs or a nose-grind and ollie-flip, which she’ll likely pull out at the Sydney leg of the Street League Skateboarding competition this weekend.
And, along with the gold medal, Covell has her sights set on another “prize”.
