Ella Scott
Skateboarding legend Tony Hawk was left gobsmacked after witnessing a nine-year-old boy perform three-back-back 900s over the weekend.
In June 1999, Hawk, then 25, was competing at X Games V in San Francisco, California.
During this event, he repeatedly tried and failed to land a ‘900’ - a skateboarding trick where a rider completes two-and-a-half, 360-degree revolutions while in mid-air on a vert ramp.
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However, the athlete wrote his name in the history books as the first-ever skateboarder to perform the elusive 900.
25 years later, only a handful have successfully pulled off Hawk’s stunt, including Ema Kawakami in 2022 and more recently 14-year-old Arisa Trew from Australia.
Last month, the latter became the first female skateboarder to land a 900, drawing praise from the Birdman himself on Instagram.
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Meanwhile, nine-year-old Kawakami - who landed his first 900 when he was seven - has gone one step further.
Appearing at the veteran skateboarder’s 'Vert Alert' competition over the weekend, the Japanese schoolboy from Kobe performed three back-to-back 900s in an attempt to win gold.
His performance was watched by Hawk, Selema Masekela and Paul Zitzer - with the former delivering a standing ovation and clapping after seeing the trick.
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Despite impressing Hawk and pulling off the wild feat, it appeared three back-to-back 900s just wasn’t enough for Kawakami to swing the Vert Alert competition.
Instead, 15-year-old Guilherme ‘Gui’ Khury - who landed the world’s first-ever 1080 trick in competition at the X Games in 2021 - was crowned the competition winner.
Following the event, a clip of Hawk’s reaction and Kawakami’s stunt has gone viral across social media.
After watching the video, one Reddit user said: “Love watching Tony Hawk at things like this.
“He’s still genuinely in love with the sport, hugely encouraging to those ‘new’ to it, no sense of bitterness you often get from folks who can no longer compete at the very pinnacle. Great to see.”
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A second typed: “I love how excited Tony gets seeing other people shred. He’s always all about it.”
“Tony Hawk is so f***ing cool,” wrote another. “He was so happy for the kid.”
Meanwhile, one Instagram viewer said: “3 Nines in a row!!!!! Phenomenal and in front of Tony! What a dream.”
“This might be one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen,” penned another user.
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A sixth commented: “I remember watching the first 900 at the dinner table like it was the moon landing. I thought nothing would ever top it, and now a NINE YEAR OLD just hit 3 in a row. It's like going from horses to the moon landing in 70 years.”