Skateboarder Minna Stess just missed qualifying for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She wasn’t about to let that happen again with this summer’s games in Paris.
The 18-year-old from Petaluma resident clinched one of the 12 spots on the U.S. skateboarding team after her performance in June at the Olympic qualifying series in Budapest, Hungary. Stess told J. that she’s happy to be heading to the Olympics, which made skateboarding an Olympic sport in 2020. For Stess, the games will be a kind of skaters reunion.
“I’m friends with most of the skaters,” said Stess, who took first at the 2021 USA Skateboarding National Championships and placed third at the Park World Championships in Rome last year. “I never thought I’d go to the Olympics because I didn’t think skateboarding would be in it.”
The Northern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, one of her sponsors, has donated funds to help with training and travel. Stess, who grew up celebrating Hanukkah and Passover with her grandparents, was honored to receive the sponsorship, according to her father.
“We’re not religious, but Minna very much understands the culture,” said Andrew Stess. “She understands where she comes from.”
She started skating as a toddler, watching her older brother Finnley. She was a natural. As she began competing, her parents realized they had a phenom on their hands.
“When she was 6, she started getting good at it,” her father said. “She was competing in the Vans Combi contest, and at 7 she missed the finals by one; at 10 she won the World Cup Championship. At 11, she did her first pro contest and made the finals.”
The family even built a concrete skatepark in their backyard for the kids to practice their skills.
Now, Stess feels ready to take on the world’s most prestigious sporting event, which begins July 26. Skateboarding competition starts July 27.
“You can literally do whatever you want in the contest,” she said of the Olympic rules, “but you have to know the right strategy. The judges judge differently every time. A medal would be nice, but I want to do my best.”