ENCINITAS — San Dieguito Academy graduate Tom Schaar, who took silver in the men’s park skateboarding final at the Paris Olympics earlier this month, was presented with an award Wednesday from the City of Encinitas in recognition of his achievement for town and country.
Scharr, who received the recognition during Wednesday’s City Council meeting, was also presented with an award from State Sen. Catherine Blakespear’s office. The 24-year-old told The Coast News after the council meeting he was honored with the recognition and support he’s received from the city.
“I’ve been doing an endless amount of media stuff, … like morning shows and interviews and everything, which I’m not used to,” Schaar said. “But it’s been fun, it’s been crazy, everybody has been very supportive, but I’m just happy to be home.”
Taking the silver in the men’s park skateboarding event with a score of 92.23, Schaar came in just behind Australia’s Keegan Palmer with 93.11 — who won gold in Tokyo — and ahead of Brazil’s Augusto Akio with 91.85 for the bronze.
In the meeting, Encinitas Mayor Tony Kranz said he was proud of the city’s skateboarding history and was honored to recognize Schaar’s achievement.
“We’re proud of you, and we really appreciate all the effort you made,” Kranz told Schaar. “It’s my hunch that we’re going to see more awards from you, and 2028 isn’t too far away, so I’m looking forward to the gold medal in that one.”
Matt Rubel, a district representative for Blakespear’s office, presented Schaar with recognition from the state senator’s office.
“This one is a testament to your relentless pursuit of excellence in the world of skateboarding,” Rubel said. “And your incredible talent coupled with your sportsmanship raises the bar of the highest standards.”
Exploding onto the national skateboarding stage at age 12, when he landed the first-ever 1080 in competition and became the youngest X Games gold medalist, Schaar missed out on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with a fourth-place finish in qualifiers.
This time, Schaar said he barely qualified for Paris, bumping out fellow Encinitas skateboarding medalist Jagger Eaton for a spot in the men’s park event.
“I wasn’t even really supposed to be in Paris,” Schaar said. “So, I just tried to enjoy it as much as I could and just took it all in.”
Schaar is now one of two skaters who won hardware in the Paris Olympics this year. The other is Eaton, who, although missing out on a spot in the park event, won silver in the men’s street finals — edging out teammate Nijah Houston, who took bronze.
Park skaters are given three 45-second runs to impress the judges, with only their highest-scoring run counted. Schaar secured his 92.23 score in the second round and was looking to best Palmer’s 93.11 in the third round for a shot at gold before becoming unglued from his board while attempting a 720 with less than 10 seconds remaining.
When asked about barely missing a chance at the gold, Schaar said he’s “not losing sleep over it.”
“I’m definitely very happy with the silver still,” Schaar said. “I mean, if I had landed that trick, maybe I would have won gold, but I don’t know; I guess we’ll never know.”
