He remains the boss. Although beaten by his younger brother Nathan last month during the French championship, Vincent Matheron is unbeatable on the international park scene. The 26-year-old skateboarder from Marseille unofficially validated his participation in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games this Saturday.
First Frenchman and return to the world top 20
Thanks to a first run (out of three) of a very high level, rated 85.33 points by the jury, he achieved the 8th total in the semi-finals during the final Olympic qualifying round, in Budapest (Hungary). He will therefore compete in the final this Sunday, facing what is currently best, starting with the Australian Keegan Palmer, outgoing Olympic champion, and the Americans Tate Carew (world No. 1) and Tom Schaar.
Without even waiting for his final ranking at the end of two long years of selection, he is guaranteed to glean the ticket offered to the best Tricolor in the world ranking, as the host country of the Olympic Games. But he didn’t want to be satisfied with that. Last February, he told us: “I want to get back into the top 20 (directly qualifying), to be in my rightful place. I don’t want to use the quota of the host country, that would mean that I perhaps don’t deserve my place, that would mean also that I would have done less well than before Tokyo”. He is not far from having fulfilled his mission.
Praised by living skateboarding legend Tony Hawk
Finalist in Tokyo in 2021 (7th), “Vince” regains its status as French number 1 in skateboarding. And his talent. After long months of doubt and caution following a knee injury in September during the Red Bull Pro Rippers at the Prado bowl, the kid from Montolivet, captain of the French skateboard team, even had the right to a Instagram story from skateboarding legend Tony Hawk to congratulate his perfect use of a volcano module.
Matheron was supported in the streets of the Hungarian capital, by the young Marseillais also in the running: Tom Martin (15 years old, 22nd in qualifications the day before) and Noé Montagard (14 years old, 33rd) walked around, rolling on their boards, with a huge piece of cardboard graffitied with these words “Come on Vincent 13”. For them, the Paris-2024 adventure ends there, but they have set a date for Los Angeles-2028.
Supported by Provence via the Sport Heritage Endowment Fund, Vincent Matheron will however have to wait for the official announcement from the French National Olympic and Sports Committee, after the French Roller Skating and Skateboarding Federation has submitted the names eligible for selection. It will be in the running on Wednesday August 7, Place de la Concorde, on a single site dedicated to urban sports.
