PARIS – If you happen to be golfing at Del Mar Country Club in the coming months, and you see a large, shiny, silver object on the green ahead, that belongs to skateboarder Jagger Eaton.
“I guess I’m gonna use this as my ball marker,” he said of the silver medal dangling from his neck.
Eaton is an avid golfer, one of those freakish athletes who picked up clubs a few years ago and has already lowered his handicap into the low single digits.
But the Encinitas resident is also a two-time Olympic medalist at age 23.
He won bronze in skateboarding’s street event in Tokyo three years ago.
Monday, he won silver – and almost gold – in a temporary stadium abutting the majestic Luxor Obelisk in Paris’ Place de la Concorde, with the Eiffel Tower peeking over the edge of the stands.
Japan’s Yuko Horigome repeated as Olympic champion when he landed the elusive Nollie 270 noseblunt slide on his final attempt to vault from seventh place to first with 281.14 points, a mere .10 ahead of Eaton. Nyjah Huston, who has won 15 X Games titles but finished a disappointing seventh in Tokyo, won bronze. Cordano Russell, who played football at Carlsbad High School and Horizon Prep, finished seventh representing Canada.
That makes three of the top seven who live or regularly train in San Diego County.
Gold medalist Yuto Horigome, of Japan, center, poses with silver medalist Jagger Eaton, of the United States, left, and bronze medalist Nyjah Huston, of the United States, after the men’s skateboard street final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Monday, July 29, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Eaton grew up in Mesa, Ariz., but moved to the area to nurture his prodigious talent. Huston lives in San Clemente and makes weekly trips south to the California Training Facility in Vista or North County skateparks. Russell grew up in St. Louis, where he was drawn to the sport after finding a skateboard in a bush as a 4-year-old, before coming west. He has been accepted to USD as a student (with no plans to play football) but deferred enrollment until August 2025.
Eaton was asked about the roller coaster of emotions in the eight-man final on a torrid Paris afternoon. He fell on his first run; needed to stay upright on his second to remain in medal contention; trailed Huston through three of the five rounds of individual tricks; took the lead; and then watched Horigome narrowly pass him by landing a trick for the ages.
“The roller coaster was I thought I won,” Eaton said. “Then I got off the ride.”
You could make the argument that Horigome was overscored. The top tricks were getting 93s and 94s, and Eaton’s 180 switch backside noseblunt slide – that elicited an “Oh my God” in disbelief he had landed it – fetched only a 95.25.
Horigome got a 97.08. If Horigome scored a 96.97 or below, Eaton would have won the gold.
Eaton wasn’t questioning it, smiling from the moment the event ended, through the medal ceremony and into the interview area, stopping to pose for pictures or sign T-shirts for anyone and everyone.
“Yuto is a savage,” he said. “There’s no other way to put it. … It’s all respect. I feel like at that level, between first, second and third, you could have picked anyone to win. It went Yuto’s way, and that’s 100 percent fine. I can sit here and be so bummed, but the truth is it’s all perception. I’m still sitting here with a silver medal. We got two (from) Team USA on the podium.”
Jagger Eaton competes in the men’s skateboard street preliminaries on Monday. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Perhaps better than winning a second medal was being able to share it with his family. Only athletes and media were allowed in Tokyo venues (and in the country, for that matter) because of pandemic restrictions.
And it’s no ordinary family. Both Eaton’s parents were competitive gymnasts who fell short of qualifying for U.S. Olympic teams.
It’s why Eaton is viewed as different among the laid-back skate culture, in some of the same ways that Shaun White was in snowboarding. They are elite athletes who also understand the ruthlessness of competition and the unwavering dedication to preparation.
“I would say the thing he has that is very rare is this intense discipline,” said Tony Hawk, the sport’s godfather. “Skaters are known for pushing limits and they are known for persevering and trying things over and over. Jagger takes that to totally different level.
“He brings it. It’s not like he’s just listening to coaches. He’s the one who instigates this regimen and it shows.”
Jagger Eaton reacts during the men’s skateboard street final. at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Monday, July 29, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Eaton nearly became the first person to qualify for both Olympic skateboarding disciplines, street and park. He was ranked No. 2 in the world in park (where competitors perform choreographed runs in a bowl) entering the final qualifier last month in Hungary, then slipped on his first run in the semifinal, bruised his ribs and didn’t advance to the final.
The only way he could be bumped off the U.S. park team was if Tom Schaar, also an Encinitas resident and Eaton’s roommate at the athletes’ village, finished second. Schaar put down a magical run in the final and finished second.
Jagger Eaton on July 1, 2024. (K.C. Alfred / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Eaton returned to San Diego, healed his body and began training exclusively for the street event. But the 18-month grind of trying to qualify for both, plus the inevitable injuries from the constant falls necessary to perfect a trick for competition, cost him in the end.
“Honestly between park and street, I just haven’t had the time to prepare because I’ve been so injured,” Eaton said. “It was a situation where I had to be clutch under pressure, and I was.
“(The rest) is out of my control. I have no control what these guys do under pressure. I know if they’re clutch and they beat me, they deserve it.”