Brave Team GB star Sky Brown, 16, fights back tears as she vows to compete in Olympic 2024 final after nasty fall
SKY BROWN was left wincing in pain after taking a fall in her final run of the skateboarding park prelims.
While the 16-year-old managed to qualify for Tuesday afternoon’s final, there are major fears over her ability to compete in it.
The Team GB athlete is competing with strapping on after dislocating her right shoulder just days ago.
Brown appeared in the third heat at the Place de la Concorde in Paris on Tuesday.
However, she was seen holding her left shoulder after hitting the deck during her third and final run.
The teen had to be helped away by a couple of Team GB coaches who had come down to check on her.
Fortunately, her score of 10.66 on the run was irrelevant after an 84.75 on her opening run put her into fourth place and secured a spot in the final.
There instead remain serious concerns ahead of this afternoon’s final following the fall.
Holding back tears, Brown said afterwards: “I mean the last one was definitely scary just falling on it and feeling it a little bit.
“But I’m just happy to be here with this amazing crowd and this crazy group of girls. I’m fighting through it.
“All I can do is push through I think at this point. So I’m just going to fight through it for Team GB, for the girls, for my fam, for all of my supporters. I’m going to fight.
“Definitely it’s a little sore. But like I said, I’m just going to push through it. Having the crowd here hyping me up, it’s going to very much fire me up.”
Brown dislocated her shoulder on July 28 but has put off surgery until after the Olympics to allow her to compete.
She revealed last week she had been cleared by Team GB doctors and physios before appearing in the heats.
Her shoulder injury follows a medial cruciate ligament tear earlier this year which forced the teenager to miss an Olympic qualifying event in China.
Brown won bronze on her Olympic debut aged just 13 in Tokyo three years ago.
She became Team GB’s youngest ever Olympian as she finished behind Japanese duo Sakura Yosozumi and Kokona Hiraki.
Fellow Brit Lola Tambling also appeared in Tuesday’s third heat, ending her three runs with a top score of 73.85.
Tambling misses out on a place in the final, though, ranking 11th ahead of the last heat.