Australian teen Keegan Palmer claimed the first Olympic men's park skateboarding gold medal in history on Wednesday in a hugely entertaining and suspenseful final at the Tokyo Games.
An 18-year-old who was born in San Diego but moved Down Under at an early age and turned pro at 14, Palmer entered the competition ranked No. 7 in the world. He obliterated the Olympic field, putting up a 94.04 on his first run and a 95.83 on his third. No one else cracked an 87.
American 21-year-old Cory Juneau worked his way up from the eighth and final spot in qualifying to snag bronze with an 84.13 on his best run. Juneau, a bronze medalist at the 2017 X Games, was also born in San Diego.
The silver medal went to one of the "old men" in the field, 26-year-old Pedro Barros of Brazil, who scored an 86.14.
The top qualifier was Brazil's Luiz Francisco, a 21-year-old who won silver at the 2019 World Skate Championships, but he finished just off the podium in fourth.
