Haylie ‘Micro’ Powell enjoying making major gains: “I’ve learned so much through skateboarding”
In an exclusive interview with Olympics.com ahead of WST Dubai Street 2024, Australia's Powell shares her origin story, her ambitions, and why the skate family is so special.
“I liked it,” Haylie Powell says, responding to the question with her usual charming frankness.
What did you think about skateboarding’s Olympic debut?
“I mean, I couldn’t skate myself that week. I was in hospital with a broken arm," the 17-year-old Australian continues. "So, I was just watching it from the hospital bed."
She watched street skateboarding legend Shane O’Neill along with the doctors and nurses, before catching other fellow Aussies Hayley Wilson, Kieran Woolley, Keegan Palmer and Poppy Olsen from home.
“It was still a really cool experience to watch it,” she insists.
The injury that had the skater hospital-bound was a dislocated and fractured elbow which Powell says came after a “silly fall”.
And it wasn’t just in a typically diminutive description that the teenage skater played down the significance of the injury.
“I was out maybe for a week and a half. I just skated with the cast on. And they said not to, but how are you going tell a skater not to skate for six weeks?” Powell added laughing.
"I just grew up basically skating with little boys"
That commitment, to watch her friends and compatriots compete, and to get out on a board despite medical advice, speaks to the kind of athlete Powell is: gritty, hungry, and loyal.
Growing up as a sporty type, the Australian first started surfing, following in the footsteps of her father. But when she discovered skating, her connection with it was instantly stronger and more lasting.
With few other girl skaters around aside from the prodigious Chloe Covell some two-and-a-half hour drive away, Powell - known by her moniker ‘Micro’ for her size - had to look elsewhere for company.
“There was one other girl at the skate park… but, I mean, I just grew up basically skating with little boys,” she says describing her origin story.
But even if it was at times solitary, by the age of 11 Powell knew that in skating she had found something special. She started connecting with the Australian national skate team and it wasn’t all that long before the competition invites started rolling in.
Just two years later, she was on a plane travelling to California for her first major international competition. And despite what she calls, a “really bad fall” it was an overwhelmingly positive experience, not least getting to connect with skaters from around the world.
Building a network and being part of street’s unique, global family is one of the things that Powell most enjoys about her sport: “I’ve made so many friends through different countries and travelling the world,” she says. “I’ve learned different words and different languages. And I know I’ve learned so much through skateboarding.
“It’s pretty cool,” she confirms.
Due to its tight-knit nature, Powell has also got to rub shoulders with skateboarders she has looked up to her whole life.
Brazil’s Pamela Rosa is one of the skaters she can’t believe she gets to ride alongside: “I still trip out sometimes,” Powell says smiling. “Especially when I’m next to her because I just grew up watching her and Leticia [Bufoni].
“Now, I get to compete in the same practice heat as her.
"It’s really cool,” the Australian affirms, again.
"I just need to keep pushing"
Sitting in 17th in the Olympic World Skate Rankings as Australia’s second-ranked female street skater, Powell is currently in good shape to make it through to the next phase of qualification for Paris 2024: an event she is targeting.
After World Skateboarding Tour’s Dubai Street 2024, a cut will follow, with only the top 44 skaters* in the OWSR allowed to progress to the Olympic Qualifying Series, a new two-part festival contest that will determine the final 22-strong field for the Games.
The road to Paris 2024 has already been long and winding for skaters, having started the process back in the summer of 2022, and for Powell, the fact that she has got this far is a point of pride:
“It feels really cool,” the Aussie says. “Like, I never expected it. And, I didn't expect it to come so soon.”
Getting to do it along with her Australian teammates, Covell, Liv Lovelace, and Felicity Turner, she adds, has been a bonus, but the young skater isn’t satisfied just yet with where she is going.
After a rare miss at the Tokyo World Championships in December, where she failed to make it past the open qualifiers for the first time, Powell has underlined the upcoming event in Dubai as a place to step up.
“Dubai, I want to be making finals,” she says with determination. “I know I can do that because I just missed out in Rome this year. I know I’m close. I just need to keep pushing."
She continues, giving a final flash of her refreshing candour: “And hopefully it all works out well.”