Keegan Palmer

Tokyo gold medallist Keegan Palmer moved from the USA to Australia’s Gold Coast at an early age and quickly fell in love with skateboarding. Keegan took to the sport naturally and was soon entering his first competitions.

At just 14-years-old Keegan won the Bondi Bowl-A-Rama in Sydney, becoming the youngest competitor to ever win the pro division at this event. That same year he won the 2017 Tour Am Bowl Final.

At the end of 2017, Keegan left the amateur scene and joined the professional circuit. He went on to compete at his debut Pro Tour in 2018 where he finished seventh in the final. A year later, he secured his first Tour podium at only 16, when he placed third.

At the 2020 Australian National Championships, Keegan took out the top spot claiming his first national title.

He splits his time between the USA and Australia, training and competing in his pursuit of becoming the world's best.

At Tokyo 2020 Keegan Palmer won Australia's first ever Olympic skateboarding gold medal.

He qualified fifth for the medal round, but produced two spectacular runs to finish with the two highest scoring runs of the medal round. Keegan's first run scored 94.04 from the judges and his gold medal winning finale got 95.83, to finish ahead of Brazil’s Pedro Barros (86.14) and American Cory Juneau (84.13).

His kickflip body varial 540 marked the first time the trick had been landed in a major park competition.

“I don’t even know if I could do that run again,” Keegan said. “Everything on those two days ... the stars were aligned. It was magical.”

Success at the Olympics has opened a lot of doors for Keegan, including opportunities to work on the design of skate parks around the world.

But he continues to compete at the highest level, winning gold at the 2023 X-Games in Chiba, Japan, and silver at the 2023 X-Games in California.

While his focus is on winning back-to-back gold medals when he competes at the Paris Olympics, he hopes to go even further – competing at a home Olympics in Brisbane in 2032.

“I want three medals and then I’ll be happy,” he said. “I want Paris, Los Angeles and Brisbane.

“But Brisbane – that one’s going to be pushing it: I’ll be late thirties for that.”

Keegan ensured his place in Paris by winning the Olympic qualification series event in Budapest in June 2024. His winning run of 94.94 was a great confidence booster as he prepares to defend his Olympic title.

“I’m very excited to have the opportunity to represent my country once again,” Keegan said. “It felt so good to listen to the national anthem. There were no tears, but definitely some emotions, being like ‘yes’ finally back on another podium, it’s been a while so I’m very happy.”