At the very top of his flight, he looks like a tiny satellite, spinning in midair. And he might as well be, because Mitchie Brusco's skateboard skills are going to be broadcast to the world's televisions and tablets for years to come.
He is only 14, but Brusco has already nailed a trick only five other humans have done -- the 900. That's two full rotations and another 180 on top of it. He hit the two-and-a-half spin mark last month in Brazil for the first time, and then last week in an X Games practice, he did it again.
Take a look, and keep in mind the ramp is 28 feet high, and Mitchie vaults another 21 feet out of it:
The "MegaRamp," as it's called, was so intimidating to Brusco that when he first climbed the platform last year, he immediately headed back to Earth. But look at him now -- becoming the youngest ever to match a trick first done by Tony Hawk in 1999. Brusco hasn't even grown into his full height yet -- he's only 5'2" and nicknamed "Little Tricky" -- so can a 1080 be far behind?
If it looks like Brusco's been doing this forever, he has. He started skating at age 3 when he saw a board at Target near his Washington state home and begged his parents to buy it. He was so good with it that Octagon, Michael Phelps' talent agency, signed Brusco before he turned 5. He was competing by age 6.
But there's not a ton of competition for Brusco now. He finished 5th in his first X Games last week and is one of only two skateboarders ever to perform the 900 on a MegaRamp. After his first successful attempt in Brazil, he even got the blessing of the great Tony Hawk, who tweeted: "Congratulations to Mitchie Brusco with the cleanest 900 to date ... on a MegaRamp."
So perhaps the torch will soon be passed from a skateboarding pioneer to a 110-pound kid who doesn't even have a Wikipedia page.
Soon enough the online encyclopedia -- and plenty of satellites -- will find Little Tricky.
