Nyjah Huston: 5 facts about Team USA's veteran skateboarder looking for redemption at Paris Olympics
For the Paris Olympics this summer, For The Win is helping you get to know some of the star Olympians competing on the world’s biggest stage. We’re highlighting 15 Team USA athletes in the 15 days leading up to the Opening Ceremony. Up next is Nyjah Huston
The 2021 Tokyo Olympics were such a weird time. The Games had already been postponed for a year because of the global pandemic.
On top of that, skateboarding was being added to the Games as one of its newest sports. You couldn’t come into things with any expectations because it was all so new.
With that being said, Nyjah Huston was considered the world’s No. 1 skateboarder heading into the Tokyo Olympics. He left without a medal.
The 2024 Olympics in Paris might serve as a bit of a redemption play for Huston, who had huge expectations in 2021 that he fell flat on.
Here’s everything you need to know about him heading into this year’s competition.
1. Nujah Huston finished 7th at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021
(Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
Huston came into the 2021 Olympics as the world’s No. 1 skater. He’d just fallen short in the world championships ahead of Tokyo to Yuto Horigome, the world’s No. 2 skater, by a few points with a 36.75 score in the Men’s Street event. He finished seventh in the same event at the Olympics, missing out on a medal in his first appearance at the Games.
It was shocking to see. Huston is unquestionably the greatest skater of his generation. He’s won 14 world championship medals (eight gold, six silver) and has been competing at the highest levels since he was seven years old.
There was a reason for such a drastic dip from the greatest skater of his generation. Huston tore a ligament in his wrist just days before the Tokyo Games. It seemed to hinder his performance in Tokyo.
This year, however, he’s back and relatively healthy.
2. Huston had knee surgery in 2022
Huston tore his ACL in August 2022 after grinding a rail and falling awkwardly. He had to have a major knee surgery, which kept him off his board for months — something extremely tough for him, he told the Associated Press.
“The longest I normally go without being on my board is a week or two, so having to take four or five months off was brutal,” Huston said. “It did make me question how I was going to feel once I was back on my board, if I was going to have the same confidence. But it really made me appreciate being on my skateboard, having that free feeling it gives me. If anything, it only made me even more hungry to take care of my body and stay healthy for as long as possible.”
He talked about the injury here in this YouTube video and had been on the road to recovery for a while.
He was healthy enough to compete in the 2023 world championships and qualified for a spot in the Olympics this year in Budapest.
3. Huston is still extremely popular
Despite all the bumps in the road over these last few years, Huston is still one of the most popular skaters in the world.
He’s amassed 5.1 million followers on Instagram and has half a million subscribers on YouTube. He’s one of Nike’s most visible athletes in the sport and has even launched a signature shoe with the brand.
4. He’s also skated on a Lambo before
This has got to be one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.
Shredding a Lamborghini is legendary.
5. Nyjah’s Olympic journey starts on July 27
You can watch Huston and the rest of the skating competition starting at 6 a.m. ET on July 27.