Tom Schaar tops OQS men’s park prelims as Jagger Eaton moves closer to securing a park and street quota double
Schaar set the tone as he led four US skaters through to the men's park semi-final at the Olympic Qualifier Series, Budapest on Friday (21 June).
Skateboarding
Headphones in. Phone out. Choose song.
It’s a process skateboarder Jagger Eaton goes through every time before he drops in and it’s one the fans in Budapest have become quickly familiar with.
Bidding to secure a quota in both the park and street disciplines for the United States, Eaton’s Olympic Qualifier Series (OQS) is unlike anyone else's. His quest means double the workload; two times the risk and twice the exposure to the baking Budapest sunshine.
Less than 24 hours after booking his ticket to the men’s street final in sixth place, Eaton repeated the same feat in the men’s park prelims on Friday; qualifying in 11th place.
For the necessarily pragmatic Eaton, he will consider it a job done but for the competitor wanting a double skateboarding gold, he will be less than satisfied.
Today’s top eight, including fellow US riders Tom Schaar, Tate Carew, and Gavin Bottger and Australians Keegan Palmer, Kieran Woolley and Keefer Wilson, will have the privilege of going in heat two, meaning Eaton - in heat one - will have a patient wait to see if he can secure a berth to the final.
Throw into the mix the small matter of the men’s street semi-final less than four hours before, the task ahead for Eaton will be particularly testing.
Also through to tomorrow’s semi-final showdown are Brazilian duo Augusto Akio and Luigi Cini, who punched their places in sixth and tenth place respectively. Notably absent will be Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Pedro Barros, who was unable to find a clean run in his three attempts in Budapest.
His loss will be the gain of 50-year-old vert legend Andy Macdonald who pulled the greatest surprise of the day by successfully qualifying for the next round from heat one.
The veteran skater eked through in 16th place to keep his hope of an Olympic tilt alive for one day more.
OQS Budapest is the last chance for skaters to accrue ranking points which will be used to determine the final field for the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
The men’s park contest semi-final will take place on Saturday 22 June.
All the skateboarding action from the Olympic Qualifier Series Shanghai was streaming live on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com the official Olympics app for mobile devices.
Olympic Qualifier Series: Men's park prelim results
The top 16 advanced to the final
Best run score of three attempts.
- Tom Schaar (USA) - 91.72
- Tate Carew (USA) - 89.02
- Keegan Palmer (AUS) - 87.40
- Viktor Solmunde (DEN) - 86.56
- Keefer Wilson (AUS) - 83.16
- Augusto Akio (BRA) - 82.83
- Gavin Bottger (USA) - 82.56
- Kieran Woolley (AUS) - 82.03
- Danny Leon (ESP) - 81.50
- Luigi Cini (BRA) - 80.79
- Jagger Eaton (USA) - 80.70
- Thomas Augusto (POR) - 80.20
- Hampus Winberg (SWE) - 79.70
- Alex Sorgente (ITA) - 79.48
- Vincent Matheron (FRA) - 79.00
- Andrew Macdonald (GBR) - 78.18