The grin on Jagger Eaton’s face was infectious the moment it stretched out from one ear to the other.

The 23-year-old from Mesa, Arizona, had just taken the silver medal in the men’s street skateboarding event at Paris 2024, behind Japan’s Yuto Horigome.

It was, in every sense, a frenetic final. Eaton’s USA teammate, the famed Nyjah Huston, had led the way for the bulk of the event before Eaton leapt ahead at the close of the fourth round of tricks with a nollie 270 switch backside noseblunt.

A gold medal looked to be all but his until Japan’s Horigome, known for his clutch skating, responded with a nollie 270 bluntslide to earn a 97.08 score and vault him to the top of the leaderboard.

Try though they did, neither Eaton nor Huston had a counteroffer as they bailed on their final attempts, ultimately handing Horigome the win.

Despite coming up short of his golden goal, Eaton expressed no signs of regret afterwards.

“That was arguably the greatest final in skateboarding history, I think,” he said to Olympics.com. “Just to live in that moment and be there with my friends. And, man, they’re just all so good.

“To be there fighting to be on the podium, to be hitting my tricks under pressure like that, that’s what every athlete dreams of. And I’m just so grateful. I’m so grateful. There’s no other words.”