EIn Naia Laso’s life everything goes too fast. When she was 11 years old she went to her first competition. skateboardingat 12 she was already the Spanish champion in the Park category, at 14 she finished fifth in the World Cup y At 15 he will compete this summer in his first Olympic Games in Paris. Many have been quick to dub her the ‘prodigy’ of the skateboarding Spanish, but the Basque avoids that label. “I don’t think it’s like that, I’m not a prodigy. I don’t have a special gift or talent, I think it all depends on how much you train and I do it every day. I don’t forgive someone without skateboarding,” confesses the young woman on the other side of the phone from Bermeo.
She has only forgiven them when she has been forced to, like this last month and a half after break your collarbone in training for the Shanghai Olympic Qualification Series in mid-May. Always compete with her Baby Yoda talisman socks from Star Wars, but they didn’t let her there for a Disney theme. “My mother gave them to me and I took them to a competition to show off. My teammates and my coach told me to wear them for Argentina. They went well for me and since then I always wear them. In Shanghai I couldn’t and I just got injured.” , says.
This Tuesday, finally, Naia was able to resume training after receiving the doctor’s approval and, although he noticed some minor discomfort at the beginning, the sensations were good. He just finished 4th in ESO at the Eleizalde Ikastola in Bermeo and has approved everything. He still doesn’t know what he would like to study in the future, but he is clear that it will be the branch of Literature.
The difficulty of combining school and elite sport
Now he will be able to focus one hundred percent on the Olympic event because combining training with studies has not been easy. “The system is designed for elite athletes who are at the University and fewer subjects can be taken per year. We have had many problems for Naia to have the benefits of a DAN (High Level Athlete) despite being under 16 years old. Before, for example, They did not validate our gymnastics classes. It costed us“explains Roberto, his father.
It is very difficult to combine non-university studies and elite sports; It was difficult for us to validate his gymnastics classes.
It is autonomous and adapts his schedule to his daughter’s training, whom he takes every day to train, after classes, to a skatepark that is an hour from Bermeo. The one in her town doesn’t work for her. “All those in the area are designed as something recreational, not for training at a high level, and they are also old,” adds the father.
It was in him where started when he was seven. “I went with my brother, who had a longboard (a skateboard with a longer board and bigger wheels) and I liked to sit on it and sometimes I stood up with help. My parents bought me a smaller one and signed me up for classes. The second day I invented a trick and my fingernail tore off. My mother thought I was going to quit but I told her: ‘I’ll be back again tomorrow,’ Naia remembers, laughing.
He always liked the creative part of this sport, he enjoys inventing tricks. “Friends teach me and I watch videos on YouTube and Instagram…” she says. Videos skaters like those of Sky Brown, one of its references and Olympic bronze in Tokyo 2020 at only 13 years old. “I really like her strength and her style,” she confesses.
Naia watched the skate competition in Tokyo live on television, where this sport debuted in the Olympic program. Of the four Olympic champions, only one was over 20 years old. Momiji Nishiya won gold in women’s street days before her 14th birthday. Rayssa Leal, silver and today double world champion, was even younger.
More than half my life skating
He disputed his first competition at 11 years old in Basauri (Vizcaya) encouraged by her friends. “I liked that they gave prizes to everyone, it didn’t matter what position you were in,” she remembers. Those awards were material for her skateboarding. At 13 years old she was already a double Spanish champion. y debuted internationally at a championship in Rio de Janeiro in November 2022. “At first I was embarrassed, no one knew who she was or where she came from. They asked me where she came from,” he recalls, laughing.
At first I was embarrassed, no one knew who I was or where I came from.
Since then he has competed in Dubai (twice), in Argentina, Rome, Shanghai and Budapest. She went to the Hungarian capital in June just to hit the park and thus score the minimum points since she could not compete due to being injured. Until then, she was fourth in the world (she is now 13th) and was in one of the best moments of form. There was won the Dubai World Skate Tour in March.
This Monday travel to the United States, to a High Performance Skate Center between San Diego and Los Angeles. The five classified Spaniards will train there until the 10th. The skatepark has the regulatory measures. In fact, this year at Christmas and Easter, during Naia’s school holidays, he traveled there with his father.
Member of Team Visa
Since there are not many skateparks for elite athletes in our country, her parents took the motorhome on weekends and also on vacation and traveled around Europe so that Naia could train. “Until two years ago everything came out of our pocket, it has cost us a lot of money because there is not much support for this sport, brands only provide material. Until now we have only had the help of the Basque Team,” says Roberto. That is why they are so grateful that Naia has entered being part of Team Visa alongside athletes of the stature of Saúl Craviotto or Teresa Perales. “We are proud that Visa focuses on Naia,” Roberto acknowledges. “They are behaving extremely well with me,” adds the young woman, who is looking forward to returning to Paris, where she has already been “6 or 7 times” despite her young age.
In Paris I would like to go to the finals and, if possible, get on the podium
The appointment is the days August 6 and 7 in the Plaza de la Concorde. Wait receive the plans soon with the measurements of the skatepark to be able to prepare the 45 second round in which to put all your tricks. At the moment, only one photo has arrived, but it is unofficial, not official. “In Paris I would like to go to the finals and, if possible, get on the podium. I’m going to try”newspaper.
The five Spaniards qualified for Paris in skateboarding.
Competition dates
The Olympic Skateboarding competition will be held in the Place de la Concorde in the French capital on July 27 and 28 in Street and August 6 and 7 in Park and a total of 44 skaters will participate in each modality, 22 from Park and 22 Street male and 22 Park and 22 Street female, with a maximum of three athletes per country/category. Two of these twenty-two places are; one for the host country and the other for Plaza de Universalidad.
