Keegan Palmer pulls off skateboard double for Australia at Paris Olympics with gold in men’s park

Australian skateboard king Keegan Palmer has achieved the prodigious feat of spinning and twisting his way to his second Olympic gold medal at the age of just 21.

After Arisa Trew had made winning park gold seem like child’s play at just 14 on Tuesday, Palmer, a grizzled veteran in comparison, followed up 24 hours later at La Concorde with his second Olympic title in the park event in three years.

He produced a series of dazzling performances, securing the best qualifying score in the morning before leading in the final from his outstanding opening run, which scored him 93.11 points — three clear of the rest of the field, even though not as high as his 93.78 in the preliminaries.

Watched by skateboard legend Tony Hawk, who had also been among the cheering fans who hailed Trew’s display the day earlier, he then bailed out on his second run, while his American best friend Tom Schaar, the eventual silver medallist, got ominously close with his second-round run, scoring 92.23.

But none of his pursuers were able to catch the US-based, Gold Coast star third time out, as they crashed out while trying to match his score.

When Schaar tumbled, Palmer fell to his knees to celebrate and was then able to to enjoy what, effectively, was a lap of honour with his last run.

But though he failed to finish it, taking a tumble, he held his skateboard aloft and saluted the packed, cheering crowd.

It was the perfect follow-up for Palmer to follow in the wheeltracks of Trew, who had become Australia’s youngest ever gold medallist.

Continuing the youth theme, 17-year-old Keefer Wilson, whose dad Peter built one of the southern hemisphere’s biggest skate ramps for him and his sister to use in their backyard at their home in Nyora, Victoria, produced the performance of his young life to qualify in fifth on 90.10.

But he failed to finish a run in the final, ending up eighth overall.

AAP