Ledingham competes at Youth Olympics

Lennox Head skater Ella Ledingham (NSW) has ridden courageously in the women’s street skateboarding competition where she finished in 8th place.

Needing to qualify in the top six to compete in the women’s final and to beat a score of 108.58, Ledingham came close with a score of 86.54. Ledingham’s best clean run score of 35.35 put her in a solid position heading into the tricks part of the program. 

While her second trick scored her 51.19, it unfortunately wasn’t enough to secure a finals spot. 

“It was really fun out there. It was such a fun park to skate. I’m so grateful I got to come over here to Africa and skate over here in this big competition,” she said.

"I didn’t do as good as I wanted to do but it was still really good to experience it and it was really fun to meet new people.”

Ledingham was supported by members of the Australian Youth Olympic Team for her competition. She said she was grateful to have them cheering on in the stands.

“It was so good. It’s such an honour to wear the green and gold over in a different country. I loved how everyone came to watch me. It was really good,” she said.  

Ledingham first picked up a skateboard at just six years of age, following in the footsteps of her father, who introduced her and her four siblings to the sport.

The 15-year-old has already set her sights on bigger goals, identifying the LA28 Olympic Games and Brisbane 2032 as major targets.

“It was a really good experience, it makes me so excited and more eager to get into LA28 or Brisbane 2032.”

The event was won by Yuanling Zhu (CHN) with Duda Ribeiro (BRA) taking silver and Evie Pritchard (CAN) bronze.