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Keegan Palmer will defend his skateboarding gold in Paris at a mystery park he won't even have the dimensions of until just days out from competition.
One month out from Keegan Palmer's Olympic gold-medal defence in Paris and the Australian skateboarder has no idea how he'll do it.
But that's just the way the 21-year-old likes it.
The Gold Coast-raised, San Diego-based Palmer has only seen an unscaled 3D render of the bowl he'll skate at a transformed Place de La Concorde from August 6.
Without knowing the dimensions in advance the world No.1 won't be sure what tricks will work in his three 45-second runs until just days before the medals are decided.
"Right now I can tell you I have zero plan for what I'm going to do in that park for Paris," he told reporters from his US home on Wednesday.
"I've a very interesting approach (compared) to other people; a lot more last minute, a lot of trust involved, being able to make a switch on the dot and trust I can do that.
"The last few contests I've changed my run right before I drop in.
"I like to feel the park underneath my feet to know what I can do."
Palmer dominated in the sport's Olympic debut in Tokyo in 2021, with two of this three scores well clear of the chasing pack.
He's overcome serious knee injuries and kept pace with the fast-improving standards of the sport, edging American rival Tate Schaar by less than one percentage point to win the most recent Olympic qualifying event in Budapest.
The pair train together and know each other's bag of tricks - but not whether they'll suit the Paris layout.
"We've been friends for 12 years ... I can tell you all of Tate's tricks, he can tell you all of mine," he said.
"The way we like to skate is all different and it's fun to have someone you can push, talk s**t to them.
"Go back and forth and first and second in the world, at the top of our games right now battling."
Australia have qualified nine of a possible 12 skaters for Paris, up from five in Tokyo.
Fourteen-year-old Arisa Trew is a gold-medal fancy in park, winning her most recent qualifying event and boasting the first 720 in women's competition.
Seven of the nine Australian skaters are younger than Palmer, including another 14-year-old Chloe Covell and 15-year-old Ruby Trew, no relation to her teenaged namesake.
Palmer saved some praise for his father "battling" Gold Coast council for better skate-park facilities as he explained the nation's emergence in the sport.
"When I was growing up ... it was just me and the older guys skating big bowls and the vert ramp," he said.
"Now when I go home there's vert ramps for kids, bowls; it's super-sick to see it's elevated in that short amount of time."
So good has the sport's set-up become, Palmer is planning to return home permanently, revealing plans to build a house on the Gold Coast and an aim to compete at the Los Angeles 2028 Games and in Brisbane four years later.
