Mariah Duran | From the streets to the Olympics, local skateboarder makes history.
By Nichole Harwood | Photography by Jeremiah Arias
As a young girl, Mariah Duran skated the streets of Albuquerque with her brothers, expressing her emotion with every twist and turn as she pushed herself further and further. Now at 24-years-old Duran has pushed herself farther than she ever thought possible, cementing her name in history as one of the 16 members of the inaugural USA Skateboarding National Team for the Olympics.
When Duran’s passion eventually brought her to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, she made it her goal to do her personal best. Duran described the sport as a tree; as long as an athlete starts at the roots, eventually, they will find they can branch out as far as they want to push it. But just as a tree begins a seed, it is the journey to the branches that defines an athlete.
While her journey from being announced as a member of the inaugural USA Skateboarding National Team started in 2019, it was the year 2020 that brought things to full circle for Duran. While the world slowly shut down, for the first time in years, Duran felt her fast-paced lifestyle come to a halt as events were halted, including the Olympics. Duran emphasizes that this journey is what matters the most to an athlete along with a genuine love and appreciation for the sport.
Duran was used to jumping from competition to competition since 2018, but found herself self-reflecting throughout the quiet time of 2020. She was able to take a moment to realize what she accomplished and the distance she had gone.
“I was able to fully absorb that and appreciate it,” she said thoughtfully. “It gave me a chance to just fall back in love with skateboarding again because it brought me back to when I was ten years old, and nothing was promised. The Olympics wasn’t in the talks; contests weren’t in the talks, sponsors weren’t in the talks; I just skated because I loved it.”
And so that is what Duran did. She released the anxiety of a fast-paced life as well as the excitement of one of the biggest competitions she would soon embark on. Letting it all go for a moment as she found herself falling in love with skateboarding all over again.
Despite the delay due to COVID-19, the international event finally took place July 23 of 2021 and lasted through August 8. Skateboard- ing was one of four new sports added to the Olympic program for 2020, and it has already been provisionally approved for the 2024 Summer Olympic games. While Duran did not win a medal at her first Olympic event, the young athlete was honored to represent her state and country on the international stage.
“To skate in the Olympics. It is insane to even think of being in the same sentence as skateboarding,” she said. “Just to be a part of that, I was really excited and nervous but … (I wanted to) see what kind of journey that would bring me to.”
Having represented her city, state, and country, Duran stands eager to embark on her next journey encouraging her fellow skateboarding New Mexicans to do the same. Because Duran states that to become a professional, one should not chase material items such as their name on a board but instead just try to be the best skater they can be.
“Skateboarding is just something that keeps you present,” Duran said confidently. “So my best advice is just to stay present and enjoy the journey because that’s the most important thing. Especially when representing New Mexico and the United States, I would have to say that at this moment, I’ve learned so much more about myself … the journey is really the most important part of this whole thing.”
Q & A with Mariah Duran
Q: ABQ-Live is an Albuquerque publication; as Albuquerque is your hometown, I wanted to ask you: How has your time in Albuquerque made an impact on yourself and your career as a skateboarder?
A: Albuquerque is definitely home ground for me. It just introduced me to skateboarding for the love of it. I was able to do it with my brothers, and it allowed me to express however I felt. And now I’m here!
Q: You brought up your family, but what else drew you to skateboarding, and when did you realize it was something you wanted to do professionally?
A: What drew me into skateboarding was definitely just the satisfaction that it’s all me. Like I’m the coach, I’m the athlete, and I can push it as far as I see myself going. Just the satisfaction of that. Trying something that seemed impossible was one of the things I really, really grasped on to and I kind of became obsessed with it. And yeah, that just lured me in and kept me in the game of skateboarding so much because there are so many things you can continue to do — a new trick is getting invented all the time. It’s definitely something that kind of is just an ongoing progressive sport to be a part of.
Q: Awesome! You have been skateboarding for quite a while, and you’ve won multiple awards and competed in many competitions. I wanted to ask, is there a memory of a competition that you competed in that stood out to you or an accomplishment that you reached in your career that stood out to you?
A: Probably the first time I took a Gold Medal home from X Games was definitely one of the bigger moments. I remember going into that contest. Just the whole journey was getting to that contest. It was in 2018, and that was the year I was able to quit my job and do skateboarding full time —-I went into the X Games contest. (Previously) I used to have to fundraise to even get into (this contest) in the first place. That year I was able to get there without fundraising and have my family out there. And then when I took Gold, it was just a moment of wow, I’m really meant to do this. I’m really meant to be here. All that hard work paid off. All those times that people came to my fundraisers and believed in me, this is what I was trying to show them, and it all just clicked. And it made me so much more in love with that feeling but also just like so appreciative by how far I saw myself and how far I could go from here, so that was just one of the moments, X Games Minneapolis 2018.
Q: You definitely have gone far! You are among the 16 members of the inaugural USA Skateboarding National Team announced in March 2019. Can you tell me how it felt to get that news and how you had to prepare yourself to compete throughout 2020, especially since it was a COVID year?
A: Being announced to be a part of the 2019 (USA Skateboarding National Team) was amazing. After the year of 2018, I was so locked into just skating and progressing —- I was so much more ready, and to hear the announcement that I was on the national team in 2019 was such a great feeling. It was also like, where do I go from here? I’ve never been a part of this, but I felt like I could trust my competitive instincts that I learned from other sports and just kind of transfer that over into skating and just kind of work towards such a crazy goal. To skate in the Olympics is insane to even think of being in the same sentence as skateboarding. Just to be a part of that, I was really excited and nervous but just wanted to shoot for that and see what kind of journey that would bring me to. In 2020 the world kind of shut down, and it was pretty crazy. It was definitely not easy. The first few months were really rough, just mentally. We didn’t really know how long it was going to last and the uncertainty, the anxiety of being on standby, was pretty crazy.
But after those months taking a break from skating, you know I feel like I’m always just going all the time, and it was kind of a time where I could just sit down with myself. To have a time of reflection. Like man, I quit my job, and 2018 was a really amazing year, and 2019 was full of contests and traveling, and here I am in 2020, just hanging out with my parents. Just having a moment to realize I’ve come so far, further than I ever thought I could go, and I was able to fully absorb that and appreciate it. And also just fell back in love with skateboarding again because it brought me back to when I was ten years old, and nothing was promised. The Olympics wasn’t in the talks; contests weren’t in the talks, sponsors weren’t in the talks; I just skated because I loved it, and it almost made me fall more in love with skateboarding. All I had was time, and so I would skateboard every day. It was just really nice to become a lot closer to what I love doing even more.
Q: How do you feel the culture and view of skateboarding will be impacted now that the Olympics has welcomed and included the sport? As a member of the first Olympics skateboarding team, what’s your goal for the Olympics?
A: My goal for the Olympics is just to do my personal best, to represent myself the best way I can, and hopefully, having skateboarding in the spotlight will create just a really nice wave of kids getting into it. And a lot of hope to respect what skateboarding is. It is a crazy intense sport, but it’s also not built for everybody. The people who are doing it at the elite level they really went through trial and error. It’s just really cool to be a part of that. I already know it’s growing. There are a lot more girls skating now, and it’s becoming more common now, which is really cool because it’s definitely just pushing everybody’s level of skating to progress even faster. It’s really just amazing, and this move will only continue to grow the sport. I’ve described it like it’s a tree. From the roots, when a tree grows, you can branch as far as you want to go. It’s as far as you want to push it. Some people feel just as much happiness cruising down the street; You don’t have to compete at an Olympic level, you know. I just really hope you know that it inspires people to give skateboarding a chance.
Q: Many skateboarders here in the Duke City will be watching you as you represent both Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the United States. Do you have any advice for any skaters out there that are looking to skateboard professionally?
A: The best advice that I can tell them is just to appreciate the journey. To even try to be professional or have the goal to be professional, I feel like that’s the most important thing because you’ll learn a lot more about yourself along the way. Rather than chasing a material thing like your name on a board, I feel like if you just chase being the best skater you can, everything else will just fall into place the way it’s supposed to. Skateboarding is just something that keeps you present. So my best advice is just to stay present and enjoy the journey because that’s the most important thing. Especially when representing New Mexico and the United States, I would have to say that at this moment, I’ve learned so much more about myself. I haven’t skated in the Olympics just yet, but I feel like that has made me already a better skater and person. Chasing something like that is more important than any material thing. The journey is really the most important part of this whole thing.
