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PARIS — Skateboarding has arrived at the Olympics. In just its second incarnation at the Olympic level, skateboarding culminated a successful Paris run with the men’s street finals on Wednesday afternoon.
Tony Hawk kicked off the event with a ceremonial start, and when it was through, Australia’s Keegan Palmer claimed gold, Team USA’s Tom Schaar won silver, and Brazil’s Augusto Akio earned bronze.
The final featured the defending gold and silver medalists from Tokyo: Palmer and Brazil’s Pedro Barros, respectively. Two Team USA members, Tate Carew and Schaar, reached the finals as American icons Hawk and Snoop Dogg looked on.
In the final competition, skateboarders each had three attempts to post their best run. The challengers struggled early; the first six riders all wrecked out. Schaar was the first to complete his run, and set the pace with a 90.11. Palmer topped that immediately afterward with a 93.11 to claim the provisional gold medal slot.
Akio started the scoring in the second round with an 81.34. His countryman Pedro Barros topped that with an 86.41, then Carew leaped up into the silver medal position with a 91.17.
Schaar, skating as “Still D.R.E.” played overhead, jumped Carew into the silver medal position with a 92.23 — and enjoyed a little love from Snoop himself as he finished his second run.
So as the third round began, Palmer and the two Americans — Schaar and Palmer — held down the three podium spots. Akio kicked off the round by throwing down a 91.85 final run, good enough for a provisional bronze. Barros executed a spectacular run but narrowly missed the podium, finishing with a 91.65 best run.
As the opportunities to break onto the podium dwindled, Carew couldn’t manage a complete final run and so lost a chance at a medal. Schaar had a gold-medal run going on his final opportunity, but couldn’t land his final jump. He still had the silver, though, and Palmer got his second gold.
