Keegan Palmer has confirmed himself as the king of Australian skateboarding, securing back-to-back Olympic gold medals in the Men’s Park.
It was a dominant performance from the 21-year-old, who set the bar high with his incredible opening run that sent the full house at the Place de la Concorde into rapture.
His score of 93.11 was too good for his rivals, with Tom Schaar (USA) and Augusto Akio (BRA) finishing with silver and bronze, despite both throwing everything on the line in their final runs.
A jubilant Keegan spoke of his pride of claiming his second Olympic gold.
“It's an absolute honour to win twice,” Keegan said. “I literally cannot believe it.”
“Let alone being a two-time Olympian, to be a two-time gold medalist is an honour.
“It's a dream come true to be able to represent the green and gold for Australia.”
It comes 24 hours after team-mate Arisa Trew won gold in the Women’s Park, becoming Australia’s youngest-ever Olympic gold medallist in the process.
“We're the king and queen of skateboarding park right now,” Keegan said. “We both grew up in the same town, so Gold Coast is holding it down right now.”
Having qualified first for the final, Keegan was the last of the skaters to run in the eight-man final in each round.
The opening round was full of falls, with each of the first six skaters failing to land their opening runs.
Schaar soon put the competition on notice as the penultimate skater in the opening round, executing his tricks to perfection to score a 90.11.
The large American contingent in the crowd went ballistic, including skateboarding legend Tony Hawk and rap icon Snoop Dogg.
However, an unfazed Keegan went about his business, nailing every trick with his trademark style and flair to take the lead.
It was a position he would hold for the remainder of the competition, with Schaar improving only slightly on his second run to secure him the silver medal.
Despite his high opening score, Keegan said he wanted to go for more on his final two runs, which was on show with the Gold Coast skater failing to land both runs.
“I really wanted to win my next two runs because I like to do harder stuff,” he said, “I was definitely stressing those last five people to drop before they were falling. You always want to go home with a fight.
“I'm really happy with my first run.”
Teammate Keefer Wilson also qualified for the final, putting in an impressive score of 90.10 earlier in the day to finish fifth in the preliminary round.
He wasn’t able to reach those highs in the final however, finishing eighth with a score of 58.36.
Keefer said he was thrilled to have made the final and looks forward to using the experience towards the next Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028.
“Just being out here is amazing and I'm glad I landed a run to get me into the finals,” he said. “Unfortunately in the final it just didn't come together. But I can't believe where I'm at right now in the Olympics at my first games and being in the finals first go.”
Kieran Woolley also competed in the preliminary round, finishing 16th with a score of 80.04.
Australian Olympic Committee - Ben Waterworth
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