Skateboarder Sky Brown, 15, opens up on failure to qualify in a SECOND sport for the Paris Olympics... as the British star - who has 2.2 million followers on TikTok and has started a pop career - targets gold

Sky Brown looks over her shoulder towards Tower Bridge. 'Definitely the coolest place I've ever skated,' she says. 'Having that as a backdrop, so iconic.'

The 15-year-old skateboarding superstar has just performed a repertoire of breathtaking tricks on a floating 14ft-high half-pipe between two London buses on the Thames, stopping commuters, tourists and children in their tracks.

Naturally, Brown's exhibition was all part of a new advertising campaign for one of her many sponsors, namely luxury watchmaker TAG Heuer. But the Team GB sensation caught a red-eye flight to London especially for it, then jetted back to her Los Angeles home the next day. Hardly a normal week for a teenager. But Brown is hardly a normal teenager.

This is the girl who signed her first sponsorship deal aged seven, turned professional and earned a contract with Nike aged 10, then became Britain's youngest Olympic medallist aged 13. 

This is the girl who boasts 2.2million followers on TikTok and 1.3m on Instagram, won Dancing with the Stars: Juniors on US television, has released a music single and two books, and recently tried to qualify for the Olympics in a second sport, surfing.

For many athletes, so much so young would blow their careers off course. For Brown, however, there are no such fears. 

'Honestly, it's really easy for me,' she says when Mail Sport asks how she manages to juggle training with her commercial commitments and studies. 'This is my lifestyle - skating and surfing and travelling. This is what I have always been doing. I am really grateful that I get to do what I love.'

What, then, does an ordinary day in the life of this extraordinary athlete look like? 'I try to get up around 5am so I can get in the ocean before everyone and surf,' begins Brown. 'Then I go home, have some food, do some school, then go to the skate park. If the waves are still good, I'll go surfing again. Then I will hang out with friends and have dinner with my family.'

On that basis, it sounds like Brown's day-to-day life remains relatively unchanged from before she won her historic Olympic bronze medal in the women's park event in Tokyo three years ago. However, her fame has exploded since those Games, when she not only shot to the attention of the British public, but won new fans around the world.

'I gained a lot more supporters,' says Brown, who was born in Japan to a Japanese mother, Mieko, and an English father, Stuart. 'Just going to different places, like being in London now, a lot of people do recognise me.

'Going around the world and having people recognise me everywhere is really special. I've always wanted to inspire. I have seen a growth in skateboarding, especially young girls coming into the sport.'

As for her literal growth, Brown estimates she is only two inches taller than when she competed in Tokyo. 'I was 5ft and now I'm 5ft 2in - I thought I was going to grow a little more!' she laughs. But it is evident she has grown as a person. The young girl we watched in Tokyo is now a young woman, who even has a hair stylist and make-up artist on hand for a touch-up before she goes in front of our camera.

'I do feel older,' she says. 'I have grown up a little bit. I have gained more power and strength. I have a few new tricks on the skateboard, so I am really excited to show it.'

Brown certainly showed it a year ago, when she won gold at the World Championships in Sharjah, all but guaranteeing her place in Paris at the first time of asking.

Now sitting third in the park world rankings, it is almost a formality she will confirm her Olympic spot at the upcoming qualifying events in Shanghai and Budapest.

Brown will then go to the Games as one of the gold medal favourites - not that she is fazed. 'I really want to get the gold for Team GB, for my family, for all my supporters,' she says. 'It would mean a lot to them and be insane.

'I don't feel pressure. Having done it in Tokyo already, it just makes me want to show my new tricks even more. It's just exciting for me. Skating is not about the medals, it's about the show you put on. I just want to show what I love to do and show how beautiful skating is. Paris is one of my favourite places and I can't wait to skate there.'

Brown's ultimate ambition for Paris 2024 had been to qualify for the surfing competition - which is taking place 10,000 miles way in the French Polynesian island of Tahiti - as well as skateboarding.

Her dream of a unique double ended at the start of the month, when she was eliminated from the repechage rounds at the World Surfing Games, finishing third in her heat, with the top two going through.

'I was a little bit bummed because I was really close to getting in,' she says. 'I was one spot away. But it puts a bigger fire in my heart. I have LA not that long away, and I am just going to aim for that. Do Paris first, hopefully get a gold and then get two golds in LA!'

Outside sport, Brown is still interested in pursuing singing, following her 2020 pop single GIRL - which has been watched 29million times on YouTube - and dancing, after her reality TV success in 2018. 'I also try some hip-hop and I play the guitar. I try to do as much as I can,' she adds.

The truth is, Brown can do - and be - whatever she wants. The Sky really is the limit.