Vanessa Torres (born July 17, 1986, in Anaheim, California) is a professional skateboarder. She is sponsored by Meow Skateboards[1] and is the first woman to win X Games gold.[2]

Vanessa Torres
Personal information
Born (1986-07-17) July 17, 1986 (age 38)
Anaheim, California, U.S.
Height5 ft 2 in (1.57 m)
Weight120 lb (54 kg)
Sport
SportSkateboarding
Medal record
Women's street skateboarding
Representing the  United States
World Championships
Silver medal – second place 2015 Chicago Street
Summer X Games
Gold medal – first place 2003 Los Angeles Park
Silver medal – second place 2004 Los Angeles Street
Bronze medal – third place 2015 Austin Street
Bronze medal – third place 2016 Oslo Street
SLS Super Crown
Silver medal – second place 2015 Chicago Street

In 2003 the X Games first featured female skateboarding competitions; Torres placed first, winning gold, in the street event (then called Park).[3] Torres won silver in the X Games Street Competition in 2004 and placed in the top ten in 2005–2011 and 2014.[citation needed][4] In 2015 at the X Games in Austin and 2016 at the X Games in Oslo, Torres won bronze. She again placed in the top ten in 2016 and 2017.[5]

She is featured in several women's skateboarding videos such as AKA: Girl Skater (2003), Getting Nowhere Faster (2004), and Quit Your Day Job (2014). She also appears in the video game Tony Hawk's Proving Ground, making her the third female as a playable skater to appear in the Tony Hawk's video game series after Elissa Steamer and Lyn-Z Adams Hawkins.

Torres is of Mexican descent from Modesto, California.[6][2] She dropped out of high school to pursue skateboarding.[2] She splits her personal time living in San Diego and San Francisco, California.[7]


Favorite Skateparks[2]
Name of Skatepark City State
Belvedere East Los Angeles California
Sheldon Sun Valley California
Santa Clarita Santa Clarita California
Sunnyvale Sunnyvale California
Ceres Ceres California
SoMa San Francisco California
Potrero del Sol/La Raza San Francisco California

References

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  1. ^ Skateboards, Meow. "Vanessa Torres". Meow Skateboards. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d Burns, James (June 13, 2015). "Former Modesto skater Torres sobers up, returns to X Games podium". The Modesto Bee. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  3. ^ Roenigk, Alyssa (August 15, 2003). "Torres Take Gold". Archived from the original on June 26, 2004.
  4. ^ "The complete list of X Games skateboarding medallists".
  5. ^ "Vanessa Torres's official X Games athlete biography". X Games. Archived from the original on March 7, 2019. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
  6. ^ "Vanessa Torres". Archived from the original on February 4, 2013. Retrieved November 30, 2012.
  7. ^ "ProQuest Archiver: Titles".[dead link]
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