The air whooshes past as Mitchie Brusco slips headfirst into 150 mph winds funneling through a cylindrical tunnel, but it’s just another day at the “office” for the 22-year-old X Games gold medalist. Indoor skydiving might not be typical for a professional skateboarder, but it’s how Brusco trains for Big Air.
After winning gold in Skateboard Big Air during last summer’s X Games Minneapolis—a competition in which skaters drive down a ramp at 40 mph and then launch 20-plus feet into the air—Brusco was even more electric this past weekend when he returned to the same venue and landed the first 1260 (three and a half revolutions in the air) in skateboarding history.