Ever since skateboarding first took off in the 1960s, female skateboarders have been a key part of skateboarding’s development.
Unlike most sports, women skateboarders have been involved since the beginning, and there have been dozens of influential female skateboarders over the years that have helped shaped skateboarding.
This is something that we continue to see today as more and more female pro skateboarders gain popularity and make their mark on the skateboarding community.
Whether it be young up and comers, or established icons, these are some of the best female pro skateboarders that you should know.
Leticia Bufoni
Leticia Bufoni is without a doubt one of the most popular female pro skaters in the world.
Born and raised in Brazil, Leticia Bufoni first started skateboarding at the age of 9 against the will of her father. For years Bufoni’s father disapproved of her skateboarding, but eventually began supporting it once he saw her determination. This includes moving her to California by herself when she was just a teenager to pursue a career in skateboarding.
From a young age, she was constantly winning contests. By age 14 Leticia Bufoni competed in her first X Games, and would go on to win 5 Gold Medals. In addition to that, Leticia Bufoni holds the world record for the most wins in the World Cup of Skateboarding. Leticia has also won dozens of SLS contests, and even competed in the Tokyo Olympics.
As the first major female skateboarder to rise up after the early 2000’s, Leticia Bufoni took the foundation that previous generations laid and elevated the female side of the skate industry to the next level.
At a young age, she’s already one of the best female skateboarders in the world, so it will be interesting to see what else she accomplishes.
Patti McGee
Patti McGee was the first-ever female professional skateboarder, and was one of the original pioneers of skateboarding in the 1960’s.
One of Patti McGee’s biggest claims to fame was being featured on the cover of Life Magazine’s May 1965 issue, which was one of the first times skateboarding was featured on a major publication, as well as the first time a female skateboarder was featured on a magazine cover.
Some of her other achievements include becoming the first female skateboarder to win the National Skateboarding Championship, appearing on “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson, and becoming the first female skateboarder to get a cover on a skateboarding magazine when she was featured on the cover of Skateboarder Magazine in 1965.
Patti McGee has since gone on to become the first female pro skateboarder to be inducted into the Skateboard Hall Of Fame.
Sky Brown
Currently the youngest professional skateboarder in the world, Sky Brown is easily one of the most promising female skateboarders out there.
Despite her young age, Sky has accomplished several significant milestones in her career. Some of her achievements include being the first girl to land a 720 on a skateboard, the first female to land a 540 at the X-Games, and the youngest person to compete in the Vans US Open.
In addition to that, Sky Brown became Great Britain’s youngest Olympic medal winner when she placed 3rd in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics for Women’s Street Skateboarding.
Aside from skateboarding Sky Brown is also an avid surfer. She has previously considered competing in surfing at the Olympics.
Elissa Steamer
The female side of the skate industry has fought a long uphill battle to get where it is today, and it’s safe to say that Elissa Steamer is one of the women who helped pave the way.
Although she’s had several accomplishments in her career, Elissa Steamer is perhaps most well known for being one of the first professional female street skateboarders.
She first started got sponsored in 1995, at a time when the skateboarding industry as a whole was in a major slump, and it was very difficult for anyone to make a living as a skateboarder.
During her career, Steamer has been sponsored by several major skate companies including Toy Machine, Baker, and Zero.
From the mid 1990s to early 2000s, Elissa Steamer put out several video parts in iconic skate videos such as Toy Machine’s “Welcome To Hell” and “Jump Off A Building” Baker’s “Baker Bootleg” and “Baker 2G“, and Zero’s “Strange World“.
Aside from putting out video parts, Elissa Steamer has also won dozens of contests, including 4 gold medals in the X Games.
Another one of Elissa Steamer’s claims to fame was being the only girl skateboarder that was a playable character in the first-ever Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater video game series. Her feature earned her a $190,000 paycheck (or about $310,000 in today’s money), which was unheard of for a professional skateboarder at the time.
Rayssa Leal
Rayssa Leal is a professional female skateboarder that has gained a massive amount of popularity in the skateboarding community in a relatively short amount of time.
Sometimes around 2015, Leal gained a large following on social media after posting videos of herself skateboarding in a tutu. Just 5 years later, Rayssa Leal made history when she placed 2nd in Womens Street Skateboarding. Being 13 years old at the time, this made her the youngest Brazillian to ever compete in the Olympics, and the youngest Olympic medalist in 85 years.
Given her young age, Rayssa is an excellent example of the accomplishments that are possible in skateboarding in today’s era.
Cara-Beth Burnside
Cara-Beth Burnside (or “CB” for short) was one of the most well-known girl skateboarders in the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s.
Despite rising up just as the female skate scene was dying out in the early 90s, Cara-Beth Burnside still managed to make a name for herself in the skate community. She got a lot of attention in skateboarding publications, and especially in the contest circuits.
She won dozens of contests in a relatively short time frame, some of which where she was the only female skateboarder who was entered. Throughout her career, Cara-Beth Burnside won more than 16 titles in major competitions, including gold medals in the X Games.
Due to the decline in the female skateboarding industry, Cara-Beth eventually transitioned to snowboarding, where there was a large enough community to support a full-time career. Although she only started snowboarding as a way to pay for her skate career, she went on to win medals in the Winter X Games and even placed 4th in the Olympics.
During her career as a female pro skater, Cara-Beth accomplished a lot of firsts. Some of these include becoming the first girl to get a cover on Thrasher magazine, the first girl to get her own signature shoe model, and the first girl to win a medal in the summer and winter X Games.
Momiji Nishiya
Born on August 30 2007 in Japan, Momiji Nishiya is currently one of the youngest up-and-coming female skateboarders.
Momiji Nishiya has proven herself as one of the most accomplished skateboarders in the industry, as well as one of the best female skateboarders in the world.
At the age of 13, Momiji Nishiya became the first female to win an Olympic gold medal for street skateboarding. This makes her the youngest Olympic gold medalist from Japan, as well as the third youngest gold medalist in Olympic history.
Before the Olympics, Momiji already had a track record of winning contests. In 2019 she won a silver medal at the X Games at the age of 11, as well as a silver medal in the Street Skateboarding World Championships in 2021.
Considering all that she’s accomplished at such a young age, Momiji Nishiya will likely cement herself as one of the best female skateboarders of all time.
Peggy Oki
As the first and only female skater to join the Z-Boys and compete with the Zephyr skate team in the 1970s, Peggy Oki is one of the most iconic women in skateboarding.
Back when skateboarding was still in its infancy, Peggy Oki was part of the driving force that helped progress skateboarding into what it is today.
In 1975, Peggy Oki placed first in the Women’s Freestyle event at Del Mar, a contest that would serve as a benchmark in the evolution of skateboarding. Her style was seen as raw and gritty, and several people complained that she “skated like a boy”, although one judge claimed she skated better than the boys.
As a member of the Z-Boys, Peggy Oki helped push skateboarding away from its basic freestyle fundamentals. Rather than primarily skating on flat ground, the Z-Boys were known for skating in empty swimming pools, as well as any type of bank or transition they could find in the streets.
Peggy’s involvement with the Z-Boys is a testament to the impact female skateboarder have had on the industry since it first started taking shape in the 60s and 70s.
Outside of skateboarding, Peggy Oki is also active in surfing, yoga, and rock climbing.
Lizzie Armanto
As one of the best female park skateboarders in the industry, Lizzie Armanto is one of the most respected pros out there.
Unlike many female professional skateboarders, Armanto focuses more on vert skateboarding instead of street skateboarding.
She’s well decorated in the contests circuits, and has won over 30 awards. Some of these awards include being the first to win a gold medal in the X Games Womens Park contest in 2013, and winning the 2014 Van Doren International.
Lizzie Armanto was the first female skateboarder to do a full loop, which involves riding upside down on a 360 degree vertical ramp. To this day less than 20 people have successfully skated a loop.
Some of Lizzie Armanto’s other achievements include being the first girl skateboarder to be featured on the cover of Transworld magazine, and the first girl in 20 years to get the cover of Thrasher magazine.
Outside of skateboarding, Armanto is also a playable character in the video games Tony Hawks Shred Session, Tony Hawks Pro Skater 5, and Tony Hawks Pro Skater 1 + 2.
Sakura Yosozumi
Considering she was the first-ever female to win an Olympic gold medal for park skateboarding, it’s safe to say that Sakura Yosozumi is one of the best female skateboarders in the world.
Even though Sakura only started skating in 2013, by 2016 she was already entering major contests such as World Cup Skateboarding. In the years following, she would later go on to win medals in the X Games, Asian Games, and Vans Park Series.
As mentioned, Sakura Yosozumi was the first female to win an Olympic gold medal in skateboarding during the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
When you take her contest record into account along with the fact that she’s still only 19 years old, it’s undeniable that Sakura is one of the best female skateboarders in the world.
Alexis Sablone
Having entered her first contest at age 12, Alexis Sablone is now a 34-year-old veteran in the female skateboarding community.
Alexis’ story is an interesting one that showcases the struggle a lot of female skaters have gone through. Despite gaining significant recognition in skateboarding through video parts and contests, she took a hiatus to get a degree from MIT after being told “there was no market for women in skateboarding”.
A couple of years after pausing her skateboarding career, a friend of Sablone encouraged her to enter the Maloof Money Cup last minute. She agreed and ended up placing 6th. Shortly after that, she began competing again regularly.
As of now, Alexis Sablone has 7 X Games medals, 3 of which are gold medals. In addition to the X Games, she also placed 4th in the Tokyo Olympics for Women’s Street.
In 2017 Alexis Sablone turned pro for WKND Skateboards, becoming their first-ever female pro. Two years later in 2019 she also released a pro model shoe for Converse, and another shoe in 2021.
Nora Vasconcellos
When it comes to the current generation, Nora Vasconcellos is one of the best female pro skateboarders in the industry.
Nora Vasconcellos has had video parts in several popular skate videos such as Welcome Skateboard’s “Seance“, OJ Wheel’s “Rendezvous” and Adidas’ “Hawaiian Holiday“. Her skateboarding tends to feature a good mixture of both park and street skateboarding.
Although mostly known for her video parts, Nora has also won several contests as well, including placing 1st in the Vans Park Series World Championships.
In 2017, Nora Vasconcellos turned pro for both Welcome Skateboards, as well as Adidas. Adidas subsequently release a documentary titled “Nora” that covers her journey in skateboarding which racked up over 1 million views on YouTube.
Aori Nishimura
Having first turned pro while she was only in the 5th grade, Aori Nishimura is without a doubt one of the best female skateboarders out there.
Despite having achieved success a such a young age, Aori’s journey hasn’t been an easy one. In 2017, Aori Nishimura won the Japan National Championship, as well as a gold medal at the X Games in the same year. Unfortunately though, soon after her victories, she suffered an ACL injury that took over 6 months to recover from.
After recovering, Aori Nishimura went right back to skating contests and received a silver medal in the X Games, and subsequently went on to win the World Skateboarding Championship in 2019.
More recently, Aori Nishimura was featured as a playable character in Tony Hawks Pro Skater 1 + 2.
Mariah Duran
Mariah Duran is a female pro skater who rides for Meow skateboards as well as Adidas.
When she was just 13, Mariah entered her first contest in her hometown of Albuquerque, and hasn’t stopped competing since.
Duran is a well established contest skater, having racked up several wins in major contests worldwide. She’s won a gold medal at the X Games, and has competed in the first ever WBATB contest as well as in the Olympics.
Although she didn’t place in WBATB or the Olympics, given her age, skill, and track record, it’d come as no surprise if that were to change in the future.
Conclusion
Realistically speaking, there are so many talented girl skateboarders out there that it’s difficult to name them all. Making a list of the most influential / best female skateboarders is almost impossible, because it’s a pretty subjective topic. With that said, if you think we left out any good ones, be sure to let us know!