Sam Beckett (born 20 April 1992) is a British professional

skateboarder Skateboarding is an action sport originating in the United States that involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry job, and a method of transportation. S ...

. In 2016, he became the first skateboarder from the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

to win Gold in the Summer

X Games The X Games are an annual extreme sports event organized, produced and broadcast by ESPN. Coverage is also shown on ESPN's sister network, ABC. The inaugural X Games were held during the summer of 1995 in Providence and Newport, Rhode Island, ...

Early life

Beckett was born in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

Career

Beckett first began vert skating with his friend and future fellow professional skateboarder Paul-Luc Ronchetti. Due to the lack of appropriate ramps in the local area, the pair had to travel as far as

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

and

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

to practice. After winning the UK vert series in 2008, Beckett moved to

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

the following year to further his career. Whilst living there, he joined the

Dew Tour The Dew Tour is an extreme sports circuit organized by the Adventure Sports Group, a subsidiary of American Media, LLC. History The tour was announced in late 2004, and made its debut in Louisville, KY in June 2005. The tour then made stops i ...

, and became the first British skater to land a 720 on a vert ramp. In 2015, Beckett won his first two medals at the Summer X Games, placing third in both the 'Vert' and 'Vert Best Trick' competitions (landing a Backside 540 Ollie rock slide to win the latter). After this initial success, Beckett turned professional and returned to X Games 2016, this time winning the 'Vert' competition outright with his second run in the final, scoring 89.33 in the process.

Personal life

Beckett is friends with fellow professional skateboarder Alex Perelson, living with him when in California. He is a supporter of

Norwich City F.C. Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beckett, Sam 1992 births Living people British skateboarders Sportspeople from Norwich

Early life

Career

Sponsors

Personal life

References