Skateboarding: Keegan Palmer (AUS) leads top 8 qualifiers from men’s prelims into finals
Just as we thought, no skater could surpass Palmer’s big score of 93.78 in prelims. The Tokyo 2020 gold medallist looks in fine form, and that must be a scary proposition for his competitors.
Tom Schaar (USA) was next best with a score of 92.05, while 2023 world champion Gavin Bottger (USA) stunningly failed to make the cut, such was the quality of the competition.
A special shout-out must go to Andy MacDonald (GBR), who, at 51, was the oldest competitor in the field. Though he failed to progress, his runs drew applause from skateboard legend Tony Hawk, and MacDonald was all smiles as he finished his final run, telling his kids through the camera: "Your dad’s on the Olympics!".
The final of the competition is scheduled to start at 17:30 CET.