Sky Brown cranes her neck slightly to catch a glimpse of the person who has been sent to interview her, an inquisitive look followed by the sort of nervous, shy smile she might give to a new classmate on her first day at High School.

At the age of 11, that is where most girls of her age would be, but Sky Brown is far from normal. In truth, she is quite remarkable, something she will show a few minutes after this silent greeting inside the Nanjing skatepark in China.

In the moments before she perches her board on the sharp edge of the purpose-built concrete bowl, Brown looks like any other girl her age.

She sits quietly, occasionally acknowledging someone she knows, but is mainly just watching those who are going through their routines before her. She kicks her legs against the bench in time to the music that thumps out of nightclub size speakers. Just another girl on the cusp of her teenage years.

Yet, there is something different in her look in the seconds before she performs. An intense focus, a mind zoned into competition; into the routine she is about to execute. And then she is off, tiny, fragile but in complete control of the small board perched on four wheels under her feet.