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First U.S. Skateboarding Olympic Medalist Jagger Eaton Is Eyeing Gold In Street at 2024 Games—And In Park

First U.S. Skateboarding Olympic Medalist Jagger Eaton Is Eyeing Gold In Street at 2024 Games—And In Park
First U.S. Skateboarding Olympic Medalist Jagger Eaton Is Eyeing Gold In Street at 2024 Games—And In Park


As the credentials season for the Tokyo Olympics was waning, Team U.S.A.

TISI
skateboarder Jagger Eaton was trying something nobody else worldwide was: to contend at the Olympics in both street and park skating.

Both disciplines made their launching at this year’s Games, and they have actually likewise been consisted of on the program for Paris 2024. But anybody who doesn’t skateboard themselves or follow it carefully might not understand simply how hard it is to master both specializeds. Eaton explains it as the distinction in between baseball and football.

For a current example, think about snowboarding GOAT Shaun White’s effort to certify in the Olympics not just in halfpipe, his clear specialized, however likewise in slopestyle, a significantly various discipline. He eventually took out of the Sochi 2014 slopestyle occasion to concentrate on halfpipe, ending up simply off the podium in 4th.

“It’s very hard to make both teams, and that is the goal. The goal is to win two Olympic gold medals,” Eaton informed me in Des Moines, Iowa, in May prior to Dew Tour.

For Eaton to have actually gotten approved for the Olympics in both specializeds, he would have needed to arrive at the podium in the males’s park last at Dew Tour, which he wasn’t able to do. However, he was ranked No. 4 worldwide in street and his next stop was the street skateboarding world champion in Rome in June, where he ended up in 4th and did clinch his berth to Tokyo in the street discipline.

For a skateboarder who a month in the past had actually been imagining completing in both park and street at the Olympics in July, unexpectedly, after Rome, Eaton’s entire two-plus-year journey to Tokyo remained in jeopardy. That’s because, unidentified to numerous at the time, Eaton was handling 2 fractures in his ankle, in addition to 2 ripped ligaments, at the world champion. If you return and view the video of his run, sure enough, you can see him limp away following his last technique.

Missing the opportunity to receive the Olympics in park…the damaged ankle in Rome…there was a great deal of unpredictability surrounding Eaton’s lead-up to the Tokyo Olympics. Which makes the truth that he landed 3rd on the podium to end up being the first-ever U.S. Olympic medalist in skateboarding even sweeter.

“None of it has sank in at all yet,” Eaton stated by phone on Wednesday. He was back stateside and in L.A. starting his whirlwind press trip, among the benefits a U.S. Olympic medalist gets to enjoy.

“I’m on this high right now, and I’m just so thankful for my team, so blessed everyone around me is feeling the high that I feel,” Eaton continued. “It was such a group effort to make this happen.”

Eaton and I had actually discussed the concerns he’d been having with his ankle at Dew Tour. He states whatever that took place given that. “I’m the type of athlete that puts a lot of pressure on myself. This lead-up, you know; we talked in Iowa about how bad my ankle was, missing park, then going to Rome, breaking my ankle in Rome, doing so much…” Eaton routes off, thinking about. The challenges have actually not been insignificant. After Rome, he invested 2 days in LA getting MRIs and tissue work. The possibility of surgical treatment was gone over.

“But the scary thing about it is I would do it all over again,” Eaton stated. “I’m just more hungry and I’m just really excited for Paris. I just have to thank my team for getting me there. I showed up to the Olympic games healthy, which I don’t think a lot of people could say. That’s dedicated to my team; I don’t know how we did it.”

The concern, naturally, asks to be asked: Will Eaton effort to receive both park and street at the Paris Olympics?

“You bet,” Eaton stated with a laugh. “I’ll be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in 2024.”

Especially offered his current ankle injury, it’s possible being focused just on the street occasion becomes part of what assisted land Eaton on the podium. That’s not to state he doesn’t believe he might have medaled in both; Eaton puts a great deal of pressure on himself, however he has a great deal of self-confidence, too.

“The goal never went away; the goal is to win two golds in both events,” Eaton stated. He was considering the park course while he remained in Tokyo, and he even got to drop in and skate it a little—which provided him much more inspiration to get to Paris.

“At the same time,” Eaton stated, “I take one battle at a time, one trick at a time, one challenge at a time. If I were to compete in both events, I’d still be there getting ready for park and dialing my body back in, taking some deep breaths, and soaking it all in. It’s such an amazing opportunity to even be able to have skated both those parks and to be one of the only skaters in the world who got the opportunity to do that.”

Once street ended up being the ticket, nevertheless, Eaton tossed himself into it headfirst. His common method entering to each contest is to have 9 to 10 run techniques called and 2 to 3 finest techniques. (The Olympics, and numerous street contest, utilize a 2-5-4 format; 2 45-second runs followed by 5 efforts at a finest technique, with the leading 4 ratings being counted.)

“That’s exactly what you saw up there; those were tricks I’ve been working in runs and those were the best tricks I’ve been working in the park for over three years now,” Eaton stated. “That was the plan and the strategy and I feel like the execution on those tricks was way better than they were in Rome. If you go back and look at that backside flip nosegrind in Rome, I was holding on for dear life.”

Of course, he needed to be familiar with the Olympic street course—and he needed to enhance his efficiency in the sweltering Tokyo heat, with temperature levels throughout the last climbing above 90 with 70 percent humidity.

“I’m from Arizona, so that heat I’m pretty used to, growing up in 114 degree heat,” Eaton stated. “You burn in Arizona, but in Japan you’re out there melting, so it’s just a little bit different,” he included with a laugh.

“But I think the thing that surprised me most about the Olympic Games course was the big section—that 12 stair handrail was no joke,” Eaton stated. “Honestly, I’m kind of of glad I’m not skating it anymore.” Aside from the Hollywood 16 (a set of 16 stairs with a main rail), it was without a doubt the most significant hand rails Eaton has actually ever skated in a contest setting. “It was really gnarly,” he included.

Eaton came out swinging from the outset; while the other rivals seemed feeling out the course and simply trying to land something to get points on the board, Eaton put down his finest things from the dive.

On his very first 2 runs, all went to strategy: Eaton put down his behind lipslide, behind tailslide, kickflip, behind 360 ollie over the rail, blunt turn on the quarterpipe, change front jagged grind down the rail, half-cab front blunt, kickflip front board and switch behind lipslide. The change techniques (opposite footing from typical position, so, in Eaton’s case, silly rather of routine) are far more hard and rewarded appropriately.

The ratings for Eaton’s very first 2 runs were 8.20 and 9.05, respectively. The just other skater to score nine-plus points on a run was Nyjah Huston.

For Eaton’s finest techniques, he landed his switch behind 180 nosegrind and his behind flip nosegrind for ratings of 8.70 and 9.40. He wasn’t able to land his other 3 efforts, however it didn’t matter; Eaton had actually currently protected bronze-medal position prior to his last technique with an opportunity to go up to silver.

He didn’t land it. He did arrive at the podium.

So too did his Cariuma colleague Kelvin Hoefler, who made silver. Cariuma, the three-year-old sustainable shoe brand name that formed a skate group in 2020, might declare 3 of the 8 skateboarders in the last and 2 of the 3 medalists—more than tradition brand names like Nike SB

NKE
or Vans.

“Jagger is one of those very rare cases where you find really unique technical skills, good heart, positive energy and an unstoppable drive,” stated Cariuma co-founder Fernando Porto. “Oh, this kid’s drive! If you take a look at each and every single action of his journey towards getting this medal, it’s simply amazing.

“Having Cariuma get two out of the three spots on the podium that day shows that we are not only supporting great humans, but incredible athletes,” Porto included. “Skateboarding is and should always be about the skater!”

“I’ve just been so thankful to be a part of that brand,” Eaton stated. “Their commitment to sustainability and the environment, being able to give back, riding for a brand like that makes me want to be a better athlete. And Kelvin is a force to be reckoned with. He’s been killing contests forever, and to stand on that podium with him was epic.”

Sponsor assistance is so important for Team U.S.A. professional athletes; the U.S. is among the only countries worldwide that does not federally money the nationwide group. Skateboarders’ sponsors spend for their travel around the world, support their training, offer them with devices and even support their coaches. Eaton’s physical coach Brandon Glade and skate coach Neal Mims travel with Eaton to contests; in this case, they contributed in assisting him recuperate from his ankle injury in Rome quick enough to skate in Tokyo.

“If it wasn’t for my team and everyone getting me healthy for this tournament, I wouldn’t have been able to skate in the competition,” Eaton stated. “Red Bull has done everything for me in this whole journey, from helping me get Neal to each contest, getting me the doctors and physicians I need to be healthy for each contest, constantly supporting me…I’ll never be able to thank Red Bull enough for what they’ve done for me.”

He’ll never ever have the ability to thank his moms and dads enough, either, for what they’ve done to support his profession. He can definitely attempt—Dad, Geoff, gets the board from Tokyo, and Mom, Shelly, gets his gold medal. “I feel like my mom is gonna take better care of it,” Eaton stated with a laugh. “I don’t have a house yet to put it anywhere.”

Geoff runs Arizona’s KTR Family Action Sports Center, among the country’s very first devoted skateboarding training centers. Eaton’s moms and dads utilized to run a gymnastics fitness center, however when Eaton revealed more interest in skateboarding from a young age, they constructed a skate ramp for him and it advanced from there.

“They’ve done everything for me,” Eaton stated.

From when he initially appeared in Tokyo on Monday night and in practice Tuesday through Saturday, there was a “no-stress vibe,” Eaton stated. U.S.A. Skateboarding and World Skate, the world governing body for roller sports, were soothing existences. And despite the fact that his household wasn’t able to make the journey to Tokyo with him, he leaned greatly on colleagues Huston and Jake Ilardi.

“It’s always hard, especially being by yourself, in that atmosphere, but honestly I can say now that I leaned on my team, I leaned on Nyjah and Jake for inspiration and comfort,” Eaton stated. “We took each other under each other’s wings, and we did everything together—we went and ate together, we kicked it in the room together, we listened to music and vibed out together. It was just a really cool team vibe between us three. We’re actually still on a group text right now, still saying, ‘I miss y’all, this is crazy.’”

Eaton likewise utilized music to get himself in the zone prior to his runs—to set the record directly, the artist he was listening to in the last was Playboi Carti, in addition to some c and w in between go to ground himself. Television audiences might have seen Eaton appearing to nod together with the music prior to removing on his run—that was in fact part of his psychological preparation.

“That’s what you call flipping the switch,” Eaton stated. “A lot of athletes that do that, if you look at any of LeBron’s interviews, he says flip the switch, and that’s what you do. You accept your position, you know what you’re gonna do, you visualize your run, you step forward, and you bite the dog back. Because that dog’s hunting right after you in that contest, your nerves are running, but you turn around and bite the dog. And that’s what I do right before a run. I get into it, and I know what I gotta do.”

You can’t argue with outcomes, and Eaton’s promote themselves. In a last that appeared to discover much of the world’s leading street skaters battling with their psychological video game, Eaton entered the headspace he required to leave with a medal.

The just minute at the Olympics that felt truly frustrating? Arriving at the Olympic Village. “It was just really accepting that we’re all Olympians,” Eaton stated.

It still hasn’t rather sunk in.



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