How Did Skateboarding Shakeout in Epic Olympics Final?

The skateboarding events wrapped up at La Concorde on Wednesday afternoon with an epic final round.

Aug 7, 2024; Paris, France; Keegan Palmer (AUS) competes in menís park preliminaries during the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games at La Concorde 4. / Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports

The 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris have transformed some of the most popular attractions around the city into venues for different events. La Concorde Urban Park was home to several outdoor events, including skateboarding.

On Wednesday, the skateboarding events were wrapping up with the men’s park final. It was an event that started with a bang thanks to Australia’s Keegan Palmer.

The 21-year-old was born in San Diego, California but moved to Australia’s Gold Coast when he was one. He represents the country his father hails from and set the bar with a 93.11 in his first run.

His score held through the first runs, with Tom Schaar from Team USA in second and Augusto Akio from Brazil in third. After a disappointing second run, Palmer remained in the lead but Schaar and his fellow American, Tate Carew, were right behind.

The USA tandem had high scores of 92.23 and 91.17 to claim second and third heading into the final runs. Ultimately, the score that Palmer set with his first run was too much for his competition to overcome.

His 93.11 held strong, as he took home the gold medal. Schaar took home silver with his 92.23 while Akio overtook Carew with a score of 91.85 on his final run to claim the bronze medal.

This marks back-to-back gold medals for Palmer at the Summer Olympic Games. In the 2020 games in Toyko, he won the gold medal in the first men’s park skateboarding competition at 17 years old.

Being the reigning champion put some pressure on Palmer, who ran away with the gold in Tokyo, finishing 9.69 points ahead of his closest competition, Pedro Barros from Brazil. That was not the case this time around, as he won by less than one point.

His performance in Paris this week was not as strong as Tokyo's either. His 94.04 would have won the competition, but he improved his score to 95.83 during a victory lap despite the gold medal already being in hand.

Despite the lower score, the result was the same; a gold medal for Palmer and Australia. That also makes it a clean sweep for the country in park skateboarding. On Tuesday, 14-year-old Arisa Trew took home the women’s gold medal.

She recorded a score of 93.18 points, just edging out Kokona Hiraki of Japan, who scored 92.6 and won silver. She is also a teenager, turning 16 later in August. Earning the bronze medal was Sky Brown, hailing out of Great Britain. The recently turned 16-year-old scored a 92.31.