"It's like golf star Tiger Woods winning four US rounds, then taking up tennis, winning Wimbledon in his first year and then finishing in the top 20 of the NASCAR car racing series" - this comparison was made in 1996 by USA Today, the largest American daily newspaper. There is no better way to summarise the Shaun Palmer phenomenon. Palmer's dream career started on the snowboard in 1985, when he became junior world champion in slalom, downhill and halfpipe. In 1986, he became the multi-world champion - and even world champion in the halfpipe in 1990. The young man from Lake Tahoe also rode motocross at a high level, was the lead singer in the punk band "Fungus" and founded his own snowboard brand.
At some point, Palmer became interested in downhill. "Gravity as a motor, simply awesome," he enthused in an interview. And so he bought his first mountain bike from Intense in 1995. Little did he know at the time that this was the starting signal for the biggest coup of his life. "I only bought the bike to have fun with a few friends."
1996 World Cup season: After seventh place in Nevegal, Palmer stood on the podium for the first time in Les Gets - nine months after his first attempts on a mountain bike. As a private rider without a sponsor, with a punctured jersey and worn-out vans. In this racing season, Palmer started from zero to fifth place in the overall standings.
Palmer worked just as hard on his bad-boy image as he did on his career. With his downhill friends Steve Peat, Rob Warner and Kirt Voreis, he celebrated wild parties after the races, indulged in alcohol without restraint and never missed an opportunity to instigate fights and trash pubs. His appearance matched this like a glove: tattoos with American status symbols such as the Cadillac lettering on his left forearm. His surname is emblazoned in large letters on his stomach. Palmer's trademark was the flowing "Stars and Stripes" suit made of balloon silk. "I always wear it in Europe. People immediately know who they're looking at." And when he gave interviews, if he gave them at all, he pulled mean grimaces with a raised upper lip and typical bedroom eyes.
In 1997, Palmer turned up at the races with a truck that was bigger than the team truck of his sponsor Specialized. His downhill and dual slalom successes that year were not quite as big: a fourth place at the World Cup in South Africa, and third place at the Dual World Cup in Les Gets.
Palmer never made a secret of the fact that mountain biking was just a stopover. The showman always had one eye on his great role models from the motocross faction. "Motocross is the best sport in the world." The transition was seamless. While Palmer was slowly winding down his mountain bike career in 1998 (eighth in the 1998 Dual World Cup), he qualified for the Supercross final in Los Angeles in January. "That was the best night of my life."
However, Palmer never made the leap into the world elite there and things slowly became quiet around him. Only now and again does Palmer reappear - with new sports such as ski cross.
It's debatable whether bad boy Palmer has done our sport any good. But one thing is certain: rock stars like him generate media interest and popularity. In any case, he has more than earned a box seat in the Hall of Fame.
