Australia enjoyed its most successful ever Olympic skateboarding campaign with two gold medals and a string of strong results.
In the Women’s Park, Arisa Trew became Australia’s youngest ever Olympic gold medallist after an extraordinary final run. The 14-year-old laid it all on the line to land a score of 93.18 and claim Australia’s 14th gold medal of the Paris Olympics.
Teammate Ruby Trew put in some solid runs in the preliminary rounds of the women’s Park but was unable to progress into the finals.
The next day, Keegan Palmer confirmed himself as the king of Australian skateboarding, securing back-to-back Olympic gold medals in the Men’s Park.
His opening run score of 93.11 was too good for his competitors, with Tom Schaar (USA) and Augusto Akio (BRA) finishing with the silver and bronze, despite both throwing everything on the line in their final runs.
Keefer Wilson also qualified for the Park final, putting in an impressive score of 90.10 to finish fifth in the preliminary round. He wasn’t able to reach those highs in the final however, finishing eighth with a score of 58.36. Kieran Woolley also competed in the preliminary round, finishing 16th with a score of 80.04.
In the Women’s Street, 14-year-old Chloe Covell put in a strong qualifying run to make the eight-woman final, where she scored a 70.33 to finish in eighth place. Teammates Haylie Powell and Liv Lovelace also were impressive in the preliminary round but unable to progress to the final, finishing in 20th and 21st respectively.
In the Men’s Street, Shane O’Neill put in three solid runs in the preliminary round to finish 19th with a score of 107.50.
This article was originally written for The Australian Olympic Team. You can read the published version here
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