photo by: Norma Ibarra

Within the skateboarding bubble of the 2024 Paris Olympics, most was boilerplate. Japan dominated, energy drink hats were bountiful and judges continued their contemplation on whether or not they like Jagger Eaton. That’s not to say there weren’t stand outs, one of them being 19-year-old Poe Pinson.

Nah, I’m just playing, but I did want to chat, so roughly a month after the concluding days on Olympic-branded concrete I met up with Poe on good ole American soil, aka Tompkins Square Park, to talk parade homecomings, mansplaining and Gucci belts.

Have you ever dropped the “I’m an Olympian” card to get something you wanted?
Before I went to the Olympics, there was this restaurant that I worked at called David’s, and to get off work when I was younger I’d be like, “I’m just trying to get to the Olympics.” Now back home I noticed I’m getting a lot of stuff for free. People are like, “No, don’t pay for that.”I’m like, “Okay?” I guess I reap the benefits of it without saying it.

What was it like meeting Lebron James?
I was walking next to him for probably 10 minutes on the way to the opening ceremony and the entire time I’m thinking, “Should I ask for a photo? No, I’m not gonna ask for a photo. Maybe I should ask for a photo.” I saw someone else do it and he seemed pretty cool so I just went up and asked. That was basically me meeting Lebron.

Did you meet anyone else that you were starstruck by?
Sha’Carri Richardson asked me where the bathrooms were on the opening ceremony boat [laughs].

photo by: Reanna Irei

How was it skating in front of the Olympic crowds?
I didn’t know that many people gave a fuck about skating. It’s crazy to see a bunch of people that don’t skate or know anything about skating watch and be like, “Wow, this is so cool.”

Something I find funny is how much people like autographs at skate events. Sometimes I even get asked, which is hilarious because I’m not even slightly famous. I guess it’s just because I’m walking out of the press areas.
I’ll bring friends with me to places sometimes and that happens. I met up with my friend at a Jackalope event in Virginia Beach and she was just there hanging out, but after the contest we walked out together and so many people were asking her for an autograph. She didn’t even skate in the event. [Laughs] She was eating it up.

“Contests are all intuition-based thinking. It’s super split second.”

Alexis Sablone was your skate coach. What does that mean?
I don’t really know. We just mess around and make jokes. Sometimes she’ll help out with things like,“Oh wait, do you think I should do this?” Alexis will guide me in that way and tell me what she thinks will score better, but she always tells me to do what I want.

So she’s the most relaxed coach ever?
[Laughs] Yeah, basically. For me, contests are all intuition-based thinking. There will be times where I’ll think, “Okay, I’m just going to try and do a smith grind on this,” and then I do something completely different because in the moment I’m like, “No, I can’t do that right now.” There have been times at contests where I’m rolling up to a trick with the intention of doing a certain trick and then I end up just doing something different. It’s all super split second.

photo by: Norma Ibarra

I think that’s why people like seeing you skate competitions because you aren’t so calculated.
One of the reasons I get so stoked at contests is because I never really know what I’m going to do. So when I roll away, I’m like, “No way. Like what?”

Have you felt the effect of being on Team USA yet?
I went home for a week in Fernandina [town outside of Jacksonville, FL area] which has a population of maybe 12,000 people and literally everyone heard about me going to the Olympics. It’s a bunch of older people that don’t know anything about skating or probably hate everything that skating’s about, but they’re just like, “Oh my god, you’re our hero. This is so amazing what you’re doing.”

I got the local skate park that I’ve been skating my whole life named after me. After that, I got a key to the city. I probably looked so fried when that was happening because I thought it was a key to City Hall. My dad was standing close by and I was like, “Why are they giving me this? Can I just go into City Hall now?”

“For me it literally felt like going to any other contest. It just happened to go kind of good.”

It doesn’t do shit, right?
Turns out no. [Laughs] There was also a parade. I don’t know why people love parades there so much, but for anything and everything, there’s a parade. There is literally a parade for each holiday.We have this shrimp fest thing, because I guess shrimp boating started in the area, and there’s a shrimp parade. Anyways, there was a parade for me.

My hometown loves a parade too. How big are we talking though?
I thought it was just gonna be a small deal with skaters, but no. Everyone that’s usually in the regular parades were there. All the gymnastics classes were there, the elementary schools. The elementary school was crazy because one of the teachers came up to me and was like, “Some of the students have stuff to give you,” and they were giving me notes and throwing bracelets at me. It was so crazy because for me it literally felt like going to any other contest. It just happened to go kind of good.

What would your ultimate sellout sponsor be?
Maybe Publix. Publix would be sick, because it’s like free groceries. AMEX would be crazy. They don’t really have anything to offer other than money.

What’s an aspect of contest skating that you don’t like?
Olympic contests are kind of fucked because the further you make it in the contest the more you have to compete. There’s different rounds, and at the old contests which had like 100 people there would be qualifiers, quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals. So if you make it to the finals that means you’re skating your fourth contest. Sometimes you’re just so done, like so ready for it to be over.

Have you ever tanked one on purpose because you were tired of skating?
Maybe not on purpose on purpose, but I remember a time where I was in the eighth spot, like the last spot to make it into the final, and there were a few other people that had to skate after me. I was like, “Okay, they need to just land their tricks. I don’t want to skate again, I don’t want to skate again.” They ended up not landing their tricks and I ended up having to skate again. Everyone was saying, “Oh, congrats!” and I was just like, “Uhhhh, thanks.”

[Laughs]
Or one time I was in Rome, maybe a few years ago, and I was in a position where if I did something hard enough I probably could have made it. But I was so sore and I had hurt my knee. I was just so beat and I was like, “I’m just gonna not. I just don’t care.” I 50-50’d the hubba and then jumped off because I was like– I’m done.

photo by: Norma Ibarra

Do you know there’s a fan Instagram account for you?
No! I have seen a bunch of crazy TikToks though. Those are pretty wild because they don’t care about skating at all. I saw one edit where every trick that I did that they put in there I didn’t land. I was like, what? [Laughs] .

You must have made some money through all of this. Have you made any stupid purchases?
I won five grand one time and I bought a Gucci belt and a Gucci bucket hat. I remember leaving the store with them like, “What just happened.” I blacked out and was like, “Okay, that was kind of ridiculous.” I think I was 15. That’s probably the stupidest purchase that I’ve made.

Do you ever miss the Florida Jit days? Like the iMovie edits to rap music days?
Sometimes I reminisce [laughs]. I basically do the same shit in a different font now, but those days are very nostalgic. There was really not a care in the world, just whatever song, wearing whatever, doing whatever tricks that are half a joke, and then nobody knows that half of it’s a joke.

I keep a lot of my old edits up. There’s this Lil Yachty one, and it’s so blown out. I’m pretty sure it got sent back and forth over Instagram DMs so there’s a few clips that are such bad quality. I think we filmed it on two different apps too with a crazy filter over like half of the clips.

Seeing that you’re from a beach town, what’s more illegal: Board shorts at the skatepark or skating with no socks on?
Skating with no socks is criminal. I’ve definitely done it a few times and then taken my shoes off later and my feet are raw. Board shorts at the skatepark are kind of inevitable. In the summer, people are swimming in a pool or at the beach. It’s easier to just keep them on.

photo by: Norma Ibarra

I find that a lot of people that grow up in a beach side skate scene have a transition phase, maybe because of the surfing influence of something. Did you have one?
Oh yeah. My dad did archaeology work when I was growing up, so he was traveling a lot, but when I would see him we would go to Kona Skatepark. I would skate the bowl and try to skate the vert ramp. One time I entered the bowl contest at Exposure in Encinitas. They had a street division, but I didn’t even want to bother signing up for it. I just wanted to skate the bowl, which is kind of crazy because there’s no bowl at my local park or anything. I ended up doing the street section anyway and winning [Laughs].

Who were some of your early style or skate inspirations?
Alexis and early Elissa Steamer of course. Marissa del Santo’s Strange World part. Honestly, Leticia Bufoni too because I thought she was so cool transitioning over from being a little skate rat to a street league, pink hair icon.

I didn’t see a lot of media or anything when I was younger. The first video I watched my friend won during a game of SKATE contest. He won this Extremely Sorry video package, and I won a board. He didn’t want the Extremely Sorry thing and the board wasn’t my size so we ended up trading. I watched that video and I remember thinking Louie Lopez’s part was crazy. Bob Burnquist’s part was insane too.

“I don’t identify with only contest skating, core skating, or anything. Those are just labels that people come up with.”

Would you get annoyed these days if someone calls you a contest skater?
I skate contests, so I guess not. Everyone has outside opinions and stuff. None of my friends have ever been like, “Oh, you’re a contest skater.” I don’t identify with only contest skating, core skating, or anything. Those are just labels that people come up with. I never really think that deeply about it. I’m going to skate regardless.

Do you feel pressure to stack clips and release parts?
Through all the Olympic stuff I’ve always filmed with my friends back home. I’m going to do that regardless of whether or not I’m making an industry name or making money, because it’s just something I like doing.

I like to selfie film and make YouTube edits with random songs. Even if there’s no camera I’m still gonna be at a spot messing around. That takes the pressure off. It’s not like I can’t skate anymore if I don’t make any money from it or if people don’t fuck with me. I’m still gonna do the same shit.

How often do guys at skate parks try to mansplain tricks to you these days?
Still pretty often. If it’s someone random and I mess up on a hard flip on a hip, which is something I really like doing, and they’re talking to me about it I don’t want to make them feel bad. They just haven’t seen me do it yet, so I’m just like “Oh, yeah, thank you.” I don’t want to just have it really good and make them feel bad.

Also, depending on the guy I’ll listen, because I’m like “Okay, I’m probably going to try that because I just watched him do a switch back tail really long and it was really good.”

You never just want to shove it in their faces?
Not really. I’m big on everyone just doing their own thing, and they probably mean well at the end of the day anyway. I struggle when playing skate with people though. There have been a few times where things are getting down to the wire and I’ve smoked them a little bit, and I feel bad. I will fuck up on purpose and see if they can get any letters on me. If they can’t sometimes I feel bad, especially when someone’s kind of rude after. I know it’s just a projection.

“I wish people would meet me at a level where egos don’t have to take over.”

Do you feel like you have to protect the male ego sometimes?
I guess subconsciously that is what I’m doing. I wish people would meet me at a level where egos don’t have to take over and we can all just be friends and do our own little tricks.

You were a pretty big late shuver. Where does your opinion on the late shuv stand these days?
I don’t think it looks that great, but it’s fun to do. Some people can make it look really good over a bump to bar or something. My friend learned late front shuvs when I was younger and was like, “Oh, you could totally learn them too,” so I did. We both started doing late front shuvs everywhere. It’s so weird. I’ll do them randomly now or when I’m like, “What do I do?” and then I’m like, “Ha, late front shuv.”

photo by: Reanna Irei

Where does your love for the number three Dale Earnhardt hat come from?
I just happened to have that hat honestly. I mean I like Dale Earnhardt, like go him [laughs]. Do it for Dale. I’m not that into racing or anything. I know I probably should be, because I could just drive to Daytona so easily and see a NASCAR race, but I’ve just never done that. I’m pretty ignorant to anything actually about Dale Earnhardt. I just like the merch.

What’s something you’re into that people wouldn’t expect?
I think about writing pretty often, where I’m like, “Oh wow, I should write a book about that.” I never do, but I would like to try. And then sometimes I’ll go on runs and convince myself that I’m gonna start training to do a marathon.

That’s probably not gonna happen. I just try and do everything. It’s kind of fried. I was obsessed with golf for a few months this year. I was going to the driving range every day and watching YouTube videos. Oh yeah, I’ve been writing with my left hand too. Like, I’ll journal with my left hand.

Are you left handed?
No, no. I’m right handed. But I like to journal with my left hand and draw with my left hand sometimes. I learned that it kind of helps with skating switch. One time I journaled four pages with my left hand and then I went and I did a switch back tail shuv that same day.

It must work the same side of the brain.
Yeah, it was weird, but maybe it correlates [laughs].

photo by: Reanna Irei

When you have a bad day, where’s your happy place?
Probably just skating. I’m pretty big on mindset, so if I don’t land a trick or I’ve been trying a trick for four or five hours and it didn’t work out I’m not bummed. What if the purpose was to not land the trick, then technically I would have done the right thing all day. Other than that, I’ll go to the beach at night and just walk and look around.

Did you have a Brat summer?
I was listening to Charlie XCX during the Olympics actually. “365” and “Mean Girls”, those are my two favorites. “Girl, so Confusing” with Lorde too. I guess I am having a Brat summer. I don’t really know what that means, but yeah I’m having a Brat summer.

Interview by: Ben Komins
Photos courtesy of: Norma Ibarra and Reanna Irei
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