France’s Vincent Matheron kicks helmet in Olympics meltdown
Vincent Matheron may have a backup athletic career in the NFL should his skateboarding miscues continue.
The French skateboarder, 26, wiped out just eight seconds into his final lap of the men’s park preliminaries on Wednesday during a descent of an apparent 360, falling straight on his back.
Matheron then took his frustration out on his helmet, which he punted straight into the air at Place de la Concorde.
With near-perfect form, Matheron — an Encinitas, Calif., resident — could probably give an NFL punter a run for their money as he even stuck the follow-through.
Despite recording a score of 82.02 in the first run, Matheron never bested the mark, finishing 12th and missing the cut for the finals later that day.
Australian Keegan Palmer (93.78), American Tom Schaar (92.05) and Italian Alex Sorgente (91.14) were among the top finishers in the preliminaries.
Palmer won gold with a score of 93.11, followed by Schaar at 92.23 and Brazilian Augusto Akio at 91.85.
2024 PARIS OLYMPICS
It was a repeat victory for Palmer, who claimed the top spot on the podium three years ago in Tokyo.
During those same Games, Matheron came in seventh in men’s park skateboarding.
Other top finishes for the Frenchman include fifth at the Men’s Park World Championship in 2018, as well as 14th in this year’s World Championships.
America performed well in skateboarding at this year’s Paris Games, with Jagger Eaton and Nyjah Huston finishing with silver and bronze, respectively, in the street final.
Japan’s Yuto Horigome defended his gold medal win in street at this year’s Games, becoming a two-time gold medalist; Australia’s Arisa Trew won gold in women’s park while Coco Yoshizawa of Japan took gold in women’s street.
Japan earned four skateboarding medals in Paris, followed by the U.S. with three.
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