Rider Spotlight: Alicia Fillback

USA DSA: First off, huge congrats on qualifying for the World Skateboarding Championships! How does it feel to be part of the team representing the USA at the World Skate Games?

AF: It feels incredible and surreal to represent the United States in the World Skate Games. As a kid, I always wanted to be a world-class athlete. I never could have expected that I would achieve that in a sport like downhill skateboarding.

USA DSA: Let’s kick it back to the beginning. What sparked your passion for downhill skateboarding, and how did you get started in the sport?

AF: My passion for downhill skateboarding was sparked after I got my first skateboard during my senior year of high school. My friend sold me his old street setup for $30, and I was immediately using it for commuting. Another friend acquired a longboard, and during my last week of high school, I went ‘hill bombing’ with those two friends for my buddy to try out his longboard. I had no idea how to bomb a hill and no protective gear. I wobbled out, crashed hard, and woke up in the hospital getting stitches in my face.

I was heavily concussed – I forgot what my graphic design final looked like until I found it years later, and I graduated high school with half my face covered in road rash and stitched up in two places. About a week later I used some of my graduation money to purchase my own longboard, telling my mom that “this will be safer, it’s DESIGNED for bombing hills!”

I immediately started skating hills again. I discovered real downhill skating on YouTube (I particularly fell in love with ‘Let Go’ featuring Kyle Chin) and when I got my first job months later, I finally bought a helmet and slide gloves and started teaching myself how to slide on small neighborhood hills. The first skater I met who could slide on a longboard was my friend Gabe, and he promptly introduced me to the PDX Downhill community. The next 14 years of my life took off from there.

USA DSA: Every skateboarder has a unique journey. What’s been the key to your success and progression in downhill skateboarding?

AF: For me, the key to success and progression in downhill skating is starting slow and perfecting technique on safe, low-consequence hills. As maneuvers started to feel natural and consistent, I’d increase speed and technicality until I maxed out in those locations, before moving onto roads that were increasingly more challenging. I always try and skate with people who are better than me, but not in places that are outside of my skill level. It’s fun to give into peer pressure sometimes to that one friend who tells you, “oh you got this” when you do not, indeed, ‘got this’, but not in situations that could result in death.

USA DSA: Downhill skateboarding can be thrilling but also challenging. Can you share one of your most memorable spills and what it taught you?

AF: One of my most memorable spills was getting crashed out and concussed completely unexpectedly at the 50 mph straight before the final corner during the semi-finals at WSG Argentina 2022. It’s haunted me for the last two years, in decreasing intensity as time goes on and I let it go. I’ve spent my whole life learning from my own mistakes, but it was another creature entirely to get knocked out of the biggest race I’d ever participated in through no accident of my own, in a situation that I had very little control over. I was angry for a little while, but mentally talked myself into a much better space about it over time. Things happen, and that’s just the way it is. Also, I will no longer go 8 years and multiple crashes before replacing my helmets.

USA DSA: How has being a part of the downhill skateboarding community impacted you both as an athlete and an individual?

AF: Being part of the downhill community has changed my life forever. I have discovered lifelong friends from all walks of life and have been places and met people that I never could have dreamed up.

USA DSA: What advice would you give to young skaters who aspire to reach the levels you’ve achieved?

AF: The advice I would give to young skaters can be summarized in an easy list, as follows:
– Have fun, BUT…
– Don’t become an alcoholic.
– Don’t become a drug addict.
– Take care of your body. Bad nutrition, too much drinking, etc. will negatively impact your ability to skate and your body’s ability to recover.
– Skate as much as you can for as long as you can, because one day, life will start getting in the way.
– Don’t shy away from street, park, or general transition skating. Getting familiar with other disciplines will improve your downhill.

USA DSA: Any shoutouts or thanks you want to give to those who’ve supported you along the way?

AF: Thanks to Caliber Trucks and Venom who have supported me from nearly the beginning. Thank you Landyachtz for the good boards and for a great team to be in community with. Thank you Timeship Racing for coming back. Thank you Motion Boardshop, thank you Seven Seals Racing! Thank you Sk8bus, and all the old PDX Downhill and Boomtown guys who know who they are. Thank you Dad, who drove alone to Maryhill in 2011 to watch me get second-to-last place in in my first big-time race.