MARIAH DURAN TALKS ABOUT HER PATH TO THE OLYMPICS

One of the cool things about the Olympics is finding out about new athletes. Most of us don’t spend out free time watching, say, cycling or swimming until the Olympics come around. You find out about a new athlete, you learn their story, and you start to root for them. At the next Summer Olympics (when they happen), skateboarding will be involved for the first time. Now, if you’re reading this you’re probably a skating fan. And yet, even you might be finding out about new skaters. For non-skateboarding fans, though, all these athletes are new, and they’ll be finding rooting interests. If you’re an American, you might find yourself rooting for Mariah Duran.

When the Tokyo Olympics do take place, fingers crossed for next summer, Duran will be repping Team U.S.A. She recently appeared on the show Brando’s World of X that’s on the X Games Channel. Duran really exploded onto the scene, and became a potential Olympian, after she won a silver in the X Games Street event. Her journey to that point is pretty amazing. It involves, in part, working for a pizza place to make money to get to and from events. These are exactly the kind of stories that the Olympics love. Makes it easy to root for Duran, right? Check out the interview, and learn more about her pizza experience, in the video above.

NEXT UP: THE DEW TOUR HAS BEEN PUSHED TO 2021