Keegan Palmer doubles up for Australia with Olympic skateboard gold at Paris Games

Under the watchful eyes of skateboarding grandmaster Tony Hawk – and Snoop Dogg – Australia’s Keegan Palmer confirmed his domination of the Olympic park event after securing back-to-back gold medals in central Paris.

The 21-year-old overcame knee injuries in the lead-up to the Games and ferocious competition from American Tom Schaar to secure a second gold medal, defending the gold he won in Tokyo as a teenager.

The medal is the second gold of the Games for Australia from the four skateboarding events on the programme, after Arisa Trew won gold in the women’s park on Tuesday. Seventeen-year-old Keefer Wilson finished eighth place behind Palmer after failing to complete a run in the final.

Immediately afterwards, Palmer said winning a gold medal probably wouldn’t sink in until later that night. “Dude, I can’t even believe it, bro, I literally, like, I’m speechless,” he told Channel Nine.

Palmer’s winning run was his first in the final, which scored 93.11 and set an early benchmark that nobody could match, even as the field got close – the top five skaters all scored above 91, and were spread by just two points.

Yet the final started slowly, after six skaters stacked on their first run. It left only Schaar and Keegan to complete their allotted 45 seconds. Schaar posted a 90.11 immediately before Palmer, but the Australian bettered him, celebrating with his rivals with hugs and high fives.

World No 1 Tate Carew put together a spectacular run on his second go-round, and the crowd waited anxiously for the scores, but even that was only 91.17. And Schaar immediately followed with what seemed like another combination that would test Palmer, but again the judges only scored it a 92.23.

The world’s best skaters performed in their third runs, with Brazilian Augusto Akio pushing himself into the medal positions. And Schaar looked set to better the Australian’s score until he came off in his run with seconds to go, handing the gold to the Australian.

Palmer said the final played out in his favour. “I got really lucky though, by everyone falling off on their last two runs, but I had something prepared if need be,” he said. “I don’t know dude, I’m speechless though, I just can’t believe it bro, everyone’s yelling at me. I’m just happy. Come on, Australia, let’s do this.”

Earlier in the day, Palmer had built his form through the preliminaries, beating his previous best on each of his runs and eventually posting a 93.78 – the highest score coming into the final. That gave him the advantage of going last in the evening.

Palmer’s second run was promising, before a stack halfway through. And his third one was a celebration, after he had already secured the gold, as thousands of fans showed their appreciation for the Australian’s efforts.