Keegan Palmer has become the first Aussie to win Gold in Olympic Skateboarding, annihilating the men’s park event today.
The 18-year-old who grew up on the Gold Coast dominated from his first finals run. Cracking a score of 94.04 put the pressure on every other skater in the comp right from the get-go. That score would have actually won him the gold medal, but he ended up bettering it with a 95.83 after adding a kickflip body varial 540. It was a near-flawless run, and nobody on the course could touch him. Take a bow, Keegan!
Podium shot: Pedro Barros, Keegan Palmer and Cory Juneau. Photo by Jamie Owens.
Words by Nat Kassel.
Keegan back tail. Photo by Jamie Owens.
Fellow Aussie Kieran Woolley came fifth, after Brazil’s Pedro Barros won silver, USA’s Cory Juneau won bronze, and Brazil’s Luiz Francisco came fourth. It was a solid result for Woolley, who qualified in second and accidentally took out a cameraman in the heat. Kieran gave the dude a fist bump, and old mate seemed to be OK. Woolley also put out an incredible Indy part on the eve of his Olympic debut, showing that he’s been ripping parks, DIYs and street spots in the lead up to the Olympics.
Kieran, boneless. Photo by Atiba Jefferson.
Massive congrats to Keegan and Kieran, putting ’Straya on the map in men’s park skateboarding!
Channel 7, for their part, showed the whole event on regular TV with commentary from Mitch Tomlinson and Nick Boserio, which was much better than the Pommy commentary on the 7Plus app that we copped for the majority of the other three skateboarding events. Fun fact: Nick Boserio mentioned that his dad, Ian, represented New Zealand as a rower at the 1976 Olympics.
Keegan, backside air. Photo by Atiba Jefferson.
Anyway, after years of disorganisation, criticism and conjecture, Olympic Skateboarding in Tokyo is done and dusted for now. Congrats to all the Australians who gave it a red hot go – Shane O’Neill, Hayley Wilson, Poppy Olsen, Kieran Woolley, and especially Australia’s first skateboarding gold medallist, Keegan Palmer.
