Ianire Elorriaga

Ianire Elorriaga is from the town of Bakio and is the first female skateboarder from the Basque country to gain international attention for her impressive selection of tricks, contest results as six-time European Champion, and for going pro.

Ianire started skateboarding in 1995 at age 12, mostly as a means of transportation, and started learning tricks at age 15. She was motivated to skate because of the influence of her brother, Xabi who would always take her skating with him. Her hometown also had a new skatepark and was the first spot she skated even though she says it has “crazy transitions.” By age 18 Ianire began competing and never looked back.

One of Ianire’s major sponsors was Gallaz and they gave her the opportunity to travel to Melbourne, Australia for the Globe World Cup in February 2002, where she placed 4th behind Amy Caron, Lauren Perkins and Vanessa Torres. In February 2003, she went back to compete and came 5^th behind an American sweep with Torres, Steamer, Jaime Reyes and Perkins ahead of her. Her fellow Gallaz skaters then joined her in 2004 for a European Tour, as documented in issue #17 of Check it Out magazine below.

Ianire was grateful for skateboarding and how “I met and traveled with girls from different parts of the world who skate at a very high level” (Lopez). Ianire also became sponsored by Quiksilver, Alai skateboards, Roxy, Etnies, Jart, and more recently the Vans team (2018).

Ianire’s contest results included:

2003 – 1^st place in the Gallaz Jam in Anglet, France for street
2004 – 1^st place Sk8-X in Porth, South Wales at street and mini-ramp
2004 – 4^th place at the Globe World Championships in Dortmund, Germany.
2005 – 3^rd at the Mystic Cup in Prague, Czech Republic.
2006 – 1^st place at the European Open in Rome, Italy

2006 was also a special year since she was given the title “European Skater of the Year” for female skaters.

And, of course, she dominated the European Championships in Basel, Switzerland! Ianire took first place in street in 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2010, with a third-place finish in 2009.

Even though the European Championships stopped hosting contests for a time, Ianire kept on skating. In 2010 she was featured in an interview for Dogway magazine (No. 85) from Spain, Roxy then released a profile video of her, and she hosted their “Master Camp” in 2011 along with Louisa Menke, Begoña Cortés and Lois Pendelbury in Bilbao. Ianire also placed 3^rd at the Far’n High skateboard contest in Paris, France in May 2011 behind Candy Jacobs and Sophie Poppe. And in 2012, Jart and Asiplanchaba released her signature model and cruiser model.

While Ianire always admired Elissa Steamer, as the first girl she saw in videos and magazines, the first female she actually saw skateboarding in person was Begoña Cortés in Spain, who she became good friends with and would join on skateboarding tours with Asiplanchaba. The annual tours would include five to seven girls skating a city, with a story, photos and footage shared on the Asiplanchaba website, for example this report from 2010.

Dose Skateboarding magazine did a wonderful job sharing the impact of Asiplanchaba, which emerged in 2009 as a “community that brings together and unites women through a collective shared passion of skateboarding and creative expression. What started as a humble website which game female skaters the publicity they deserve, has transformed into a thriving community at the forefront of the Barcelona skate scene, undertaking numerous different creative projects which enriches the experiences of its members and friends” (Cottam).

Ianire was also well-documented by Spanish photographer Alex Braza, as seen in Dogway magazine (No. 85) in 2010:

In 2011, Asiplanchaba celebrated with Ianire when she received an 8-page feature in the skateboarding magazine Uno, based out of Barcelona (available via ISSUU).

Ianire had several interviews for Basque newspapers celebrating her accomplishments. When asked about her heritage in a 2013 interview for Confusion magazine, she replied, “I don’t really care about politics. I don’t like politicians. I think in the Basque Country we have our own things and I feel really proud of it: culture, language, sports, nice food, music… I feel I am Basque and this is the most important thing for me because I love this country. However, independence doesn’t really concern me, I would like a world without borders!!”

Ianire also enjoys playing soccer and surfing and went on to study to become a teacher in Physical Education. In 2017 she became a mom, and yet her commitment to women in skateboarding continued. Vans shoes signed her on in 2018, and in an interview with Dogway magazine she explained that while she had no plans to compete, she would continue to enjoy skateboarding with her friends.

Photos: Alex Mosterin, Alex Braza, Xabi Goitisolo, Zoey Knoetze

Enjoy these videos of Ianire below.

2007 footage: