Minna Stess On Skateboarding, Early Success and Olympic Dreams

Minna Stess has been tearing up the streets since she was just two-years-old – way before most kids even think about picking up a skateboard. With her impressive talent, the now 18-year-old is currently ranked second in the U.S. in her sport.

While her earliest memories of stepping onto a skateboard are hazy, skating has always been a significant part of her life. To highlight her early successes, she became the first girl to win the California Amateur Skateboard League at just age eight and joined the U.S. National Team at thirteen in 2019. She then won first place at the 2021 USA National Championships' Women's Park competition when she was 15, making her the youngest to take home the title. Between even more victories, Stess made history at the 2023 Park World Championship in Rome as the first female American skater to podium at the event. While she was on the national team, Stess was placed as an alternate for skateboarding's Olympic debut at the 2020 Tokyo games but ultimately wasn't called to attend.

Below, we speak with the Californian skate prodigy as she embarks on her first Olympic appearance.

Starting to skate at age two is remarkably early – that's roughly the age when toddlers start gaining confidence to walking. How did that even come about?

I don't even remember but this is what I've been told. My brother is a few years older and he got into skating and I just wanted to copy whatever he was doing. There was a contest my brother was competing at, that my whole family went to and I wanted to participate as well. I freaked out and threw a tantrum when they didn't have a board for me to skate on. That was the moment I knew skating was going to be my thing.

From there, I started doing amateur contests, like the California Amateur Skateboarding League and coming down to Southern California, because that's where all the skating stuff is. [Afterwards,] more female divisions popped up and I started competing in those. Back then, for us, it was the Vans "Girls Combi," which was this massive bowl in Orange County. It's closed now but I remember skating that and I got second, then I switched to Pro-Division, where I qualified for finals when I was like 11 or 12.

Was there ever a specific moment you realized skating was more than just a hobby?

I don't know if there ever was a specific moment, I just feel like I always knew. My parents built a little skatepark in our backyard and I remember feeling like, "This is perfect, I can just skate here all the time." So, I never considered it as a hobby, I've always thought of it as my life. My parents have always been so supportive, they never pushed me, they knew this was something I really enjoyed, so they helped get me there. It's funny because a lot of people's parents have a connection to skating, but neither of mine ever skated.

You compete so often, how does your skating life balance with school?

I live in Northern California and I'm mostly down in Southern California, because that's where most of the skateparks are. Starting from seventh grade, I went into independent study which is when you go in once a week and do the rest online. The option has always been part of the school system. I've been lucky to have that, especially after Tokyo started happening. We do the eight or nine hour drive quite a lot, I mean I'm done with school now, but my parents have really helped.

What has been the most fun and memorable experience in skating?

I've had so many good ones, but if I was to pick one, it'd be the World Championships in Rome last year. I got placed third and no American park skater has ever made the podium before. These have been going on for like seven years, so to be the first one was so surreal. I was fully shocked, I did my run and it just happened. It was a crazy feeling, I’ve never felt like that before.

That event was my favorite one, not because I did well, but because all my friends were there. When I walked out of the skatepark, all of the girls and people I've known for so long were just trampling me and then they lifted me up. It was so wholesome, it's a feeling I can't explain.

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What's the goriest injury you've ever had?

In 2019, I broke and dislocated my elbow. I still have a scar from it and it's not pretty. I was trying to skate straight and do a trick on the rail and I fully just flew forward and fell on my arm weird. It was bad, but thankfully I was right next to a children's hospital. The worst part was that they thought my arm was just dislocated, so they tried to set it after putting me on Ketamine. They didn't realize it was also broken until later, so I had to undergo surgery while still tripping out. They inserted a screw and put on a cast, but my arm was too skinny, which made the screw pop out. I remember telling my mom that my elbow felt wet under the cast because of the screw coming out, it was disgusting.

Is skate culture accurately portrayed in the media?

Yeah I guess, everyone is so different in skating and I feel like we all just know each other and relate to one thing which is skating. Skating is so interesting because I meet so many people that I would've probably never met if we didn't skate. It's just really cool, especially girls in skating, we're all there trying to achieve our goal, whatever that may be.

I was just talking about this with my family yesterday. Skating is the only event that has someone there talking, getting the crowd hyped and it just makes it so much more fun. Other sports like golf are dead silent, like that's just so awkward. When it's our time to go, they put on a song for you, announce you and then everyone cheers. I'm happy they kept that aspect for the qualifying Olympics, too. That is what skate contests have always been like, which just makes them what they are.

 

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So, Paris Olympics, how do you feel?

I've never been to Paris before, so it's super cool that the first time I'm going to Paris is to compete in the Olympics. I'm rooming with one of my friends. She's a street skater and we became really close during qualifying, so I'm excited to have a good friend there.

Are there places or things in Paris you'd like to visit outside of skating?

I remember how I felt for the last qualifier. Nobody was guaranteed, I wasn't guaranteed and I was seeing videos on TikTok about Paris and I was like "Ah... I can't watch this." Now, I can and my whole family is going, like my 87-year-old grandma is going. What's crazy is that one of my best friends from sixth grade messaged me and said he was going be in Paris at the time I'd be competing. He literally bought a package ticket because all the other tickets were sold out. It's crazy that my best friend from sixth grade is coming to watch me at the Olympics... it's insane.

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