Aizawl at 5:30 pm is usually a time to sit and take in the view; sunsets fill the sky with pink and orange hues over the hills, while the lights on the houses come on one by one. But on the evening of September 10 at 5:30, I was on my way to the Aizawl Book Cafe to meet someone who had put Mizoram on the world map, in a sport that the larger population are largely unaware of – freestyle skateboarding.
Lalnunkima placed fourth at the World Freestyle Skateboarding Championship in Kassel, Germany, on August 16. The first Indian to compete at this world skateboarding championship, he faced skateboarders from over thirty countries. He even outplaced Germany’s Daniel Adam, the 2025 freestyle skateboarding world champion.
Kima was seated at Aizawl Book Cafe with two of his friends; though I was 15 minutes late, he quickly assured me that we were just on time.
I have not met many sports personalities, especially those who have made it to the international scene, but the 26-year-old was a strong reminder that those who have made it to the top through sheer grit and willpower always have room for kindness.
From the time he was 13, Kima had to make do with the roads of Mizoram to pursue a sport with no clear career path in Mizoram and maybe a small space in the Northeast region.
He had to wait until midnight when the streets were quiet to practise. Sometimes, that meant skating from 1 or 2 in the morning until 7 am, after which he would get ready for school.
His journey began when he was eight, although he says he started taking skateboarding seriously at around 13 or 14. Much of the confidence to pursue it came from his mother, who supported him even when neither of them really understood how a career in skateboarding would work.
“I think I have to give her a lot of credit because she is the one who has always supported me from the very start. Even though she had no idea how I was going to do that, she gave me the benefit of the doubt,” Kima said.
His early influences came from watching skateboarders on television and online. Kilian Martin was the first skateboarder he remembers seeing, after watching him on the History Channel programme Concrete Circus. The freestyle skating, footwork and technical aspects caught his attention.
Kima later looked up to skateboarders including Rodney Mullen and Mike Vallely, among others.
His first competition was a local contest in Shillong. In 2018, he travelled to Bengaluru for the Jugad International, his first national-level competition. Around the same period, his videos began reaching skateboarding companies in India, helped by a friend named Miller, who contacted companies and sent them Kima’s videos.
By the age of 15, Kima was receiving invitations to world championship events. But getting to those competitions proved far more difficult than earning the invitations.
His first invitation came in late 2015 for the 2016 World Championship. Visa problems and a lack of financial backing prevented him from making the trip. The same pattern continued for several years.
“Sometimes I was too late to apply for the visa, sometimes I didn’t have enough financial backing. And so I got visa rejections. I think after it failed like three years in a row I started to lose hope that this was actually going to happen,” he recalled.
By the time he was around 18, his confidence had taken a hit. He had once believed he could become world champion at 16, but had not even made it to the world championships.
He returned to local competitions, kept practising and slowly rebuilt his confidence. Eventually, after years of invitations and setbacks, he finally made it to Germany.
The experience was also a reminder of how far he had come. Some of the skaters he competed against were people whose videos he had watched since he was 14 or 15.
“To not only get to meet them, but I get to skate with them, and then I get to skate against them at the same competition, which is unreal because these are the people that you used to look up to. And then to place higher than them at the same contest absolutely blows my mind,” he said.
Kima had trained for around five to six hours a day in Germany, where he had access to better skating infrastructure. That access, he says, is still missing for many skaters in India.
He believes a good skating facility does not have to be expensive or elaborate. Even a covered, flat surface where skaters can practise without traffic, pedestrians, rain or excessive heat would make a difference.
For Kima, the lack of such spaces was one reason he moved to Goa. There, he found more places to skate as well as opportunities to earn through commercials, workshops and his work with a skateboarding company. He can also spend more time filming, skating and creating content for YouTube.
Skateboarding has now become his full-time job. And fourth place in Germany has not changed his ambition.
“I’m really happy I worked hard, and the best I could do was fourth place, and I’m happy with that. But internally, when I don’t get first place, I treat that as kind of like I didn’t win.”
On his flight back from Germany, he was already writing down tricks and planning his next performance.
For Kima, the next destination is Germany again, and this time, the top spot.
Also Read: Beyond Marks: Classrooms must teach students to face the real world
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