Meet Ema Kawakami, the Japanese Skateboarding Prodigy Who Became One of Guinness World Records' Youngest Record-Breaking Skating Stars

Ema Kawakami has emerged as one of the most remarkable young names in modern skateboarding, turning childhood enthusiasm into a record-setting international career. Born in Japan on September 8, 2014, Kawakami began skateboarding at just five years old and quickly demonstrated an unusual ability to master demanding vertical-ramp tricks. Guinness World Records has featured him among its Young Achievers, highlighting his extraordinary skating skills and his record for the most backside 540 skateboard tricks in one minute. His story has since expanded beyond record books, with appearances at major international competitions and increasingly impressive achievements that have established him as one of skateboarding’s most closely watched young talents.

Kawakami’s introduction to competitive skateboarding came remarkably early. According to his Guinness World Records profile, he entered his first skateboarding tournament only about six months after taking up the sport, when he was approximately five and a half years old. What began as something he simply enjoyed soon developed into a serious pursuit requiring discipline, balance, coordination and countless hours of practice.

Guinness says Kawakami trains four or five times a week, with individual sessions lasting around three to four hours. That demanding routine helps explain how a young skateboarder could progress so quickly in a sport where advanced aerial tricks require exceptional timing and control.


One of the tricks that helped bring Kawakami international attention was the 900, a spectacular aerial maneuver involving two and a half rotations. His father shared a video of the young skateboarder successfully landing the trick, helping introduce his abilities to a much wider audience. The achievement was especially significant because Tony Hawk, one of skateboarding’s most famous pioneers, had famously landed the first documented 900 in competition decades earlier.

Kawakami has cited Hawk among his inspirations, along with other accomplished skaters including Shaun White, Gui Khury and Pierre-Luc Gagnon. His progression shows how digital video, social media and global skateboarding culture can help young athletes reach audiences far beyond their hometowns.

Kawakami’s Guinness World Records journey reached a major milestone in 2024. At a television appearance in Milan, Italy, for Lo Show dei Record, he performed repeated backside 540s on a vertical ramp. A backside 540 involves the skateboarder completing one and a half rotations in the air, making the feat particularly demanding when performed repeatedly under time pressure. During that attempt, Kawakami completed eight qualifying jumps in one minute, establishing a Guinness World Records title.

He subsequently improved that mark in Kobe, Japan, on May 22, 2024, completing 13 backside 540 skateboard tricks in one minute. Guinness currently lists 13 as the record for that title, demonstrating how quickly the young athlete continued pushing his own limits.

The year 2024 also marked Kawakami’s arrival on one of skateboarding’s biggest stages. On June 28, 2024, he competed at X Games Ventura in California at just nine years and 294 days old. Guinness World Records recognizes him as the youngest male X Games athlete, and he competed in Men’s Skateboard Vert as well as the Pacifico Men’s Skateboard Vert Best Trick competition. He finished seventh in the vert event and fifth in Best Trick, landing a 900 in both competitions. His participation was more than simply a milestone of age: it demonstrated that Kawakami could perform his technically difficult tricks in an elite international competition environment alongside established competitors.

His momentum continued in 2025 when Kawakami became the youngest male X Games medallist. At X Games Salt Lake City on June 28, 2025, he won bronze in Men’s Skateboard Vert at the age of 10 years and 293 days. Guinness records the achievement as the youngest X Games male medal, another landmark in a career that had already produced multiple age-related milestones. The progression from youngest competitor to youngest medallist illustrated how rapidly Kawakami was adapting to the demands of elite competition. Instead of being defined solely by his age, his growing record increasingly reflected his ability to execute high-level vertical skateboarding tricks against experienced international athletes.

Kawakami reached another extraordinary milestone at X Games Chiba 2026 in Japan. On July 4, 2026, he won the Men’s Skateboard Vert gold medal at just 11 years and 299 days old, becoming the youngest male X Games gold medallist according to Guinness World Records. Guinness also notes that he remains the youngest-ever X Games competitor, having made his debut in 2024 at nine years and 294 days. These achievements place his rapid rise in a broader context: within only a few years of discovering skateboarding, Kawakami progressed from a young enthusiast to a record holder and major international competition winner.

Perhaps the most compelling part of Ema Kawakami’s story is that his ambitions appear to extend beyond collecting records. Guinness describes how he watches skateboarding videos to learn techniques and draw inspiration from elite athletes, while Kawakami has emphasized the importance of practice, patience and enjoying the sport with friends. His journey is a reminder that extraordinary sporting achievements can begin with something as simple as discovering an activity that genuinely excites a child. From his first competition at five to Guinness records, X Games medals and a historic gold medal, Kawakami has already built an extraordinary chapter in Japanese skateboarding. At only 12 years old in September 2026, his record-breaking journey is still developing, making Ema Kawakami a name worth watching as the next generation of skateboarding continues to evolve.