Keegan Palmer Win’s Gold in Men’s Park for Australia

Australia’s Keegan Palmer has secured Gold in the men’s park event today, putting a stop to Japan’s dominating winning streak. Aged just 18, Keegan now has the prestigious titles of the first ever men’s park Olympic champion, and the individual who got Australia their first ever gold medal in Skateboarding.

Keegan essentially secured gold on his very first run, scoring 94.04, a score which after even three rounds of competition, no one could beat. Nevertheless, this didn’t stop Keegan for giving it all in his final run, landing a kickflip 540 seconds into the run, which ultimately gave him the final score of 95.83 – 9.69 points ahead of silver medalist Pedro Barras from Brazil.

"I learnt the kickflip 540 in lockdown, my game plan was to make sure no-one knew what was happening, so I came out swinging. No-one does that trick in a contest like this. I tried it on concrete and it paid off"

Not only did Keegan manage to make Olympic history as been the first male park champion, he was also the first person to fall into a camera man in the skateboarding event, and perhaps the first person to ever take out a cameraman at the Olympics for the matter. However, no damage was done, and instead it made for an incredibly wholesome and humorous interaction, with a fist bump from Keegan representing a peace offering in the most skater-like way we can think of!

It's fair to say the men's park event definitely lived up to expectations - what an amazing way to end the olympic skateboarding action. Congratulations to Keegan, and every other skater, medalist or not, who has been a part of this historical event for our beloved sport.

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