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 Pierre-Luc Gagnon |
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 Alex Perelson |
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 Sandro Dias |
PLG Prepares to Defend LG Action Sports World Championship Title
By Colin Bane
Vert skater Pierre-Luc Gagnon won the 2007 LG Action Sports Championships, and this year he's back with a vengeance. He's won every major vert skateboarding competition so far in 2008, including the Action Sports World Tour stop in Cincinnati, and his win today in Prelims here in Seattle puts him in prime position to defend his LG Action Sports Championships title.
It's been an epic year for Gagnon, better known by skate fans as PLG. He started things off on the other side of the world, winning the AST China Invitational. Then it was on to the Tampa Pro, where PLG dominated a new "6-pack" contest format, with skaters judged on quick 6-trick combo runs. He was brought on to help design the ramp and competition format for the new Maloof Money Cup, and ended up winning that, too. Then he went to Los Angeles, defeating his rival Shaun White for the gold medal at X Games 14, and on to Cincinnati to put his stamp on the ASA Action Sports World Tour. A win last month in Orlando for the final stop of the AST Dew Tour helped him win his first Dew Cup championship, and now he's in Seattle, hungry for more.
"Here's what changed: I used to not want to risk doing some of my big tricks in practice, and I'd just save them for contest days when they really mattered," says Gagnon. "Now I make a point, every time I skate, to skate the way I would skate in a contest. I'm really grateful to be able to do this for a living, so I'm definitely not going to let this chance pass by."
Gagnon is now one of the most highly decorated - and most handsomely paid - skaters in the history of the sport, and he's won more contest money this year than he ever dreamed of. He's not finished yet.
"I've been working really hard at this for a long time, and I feel like my turn finally came around this year," says Gagnon. "I skate because it's fun and because I love it, but I also skate to win. I would love to win the LG Action Sports Championship again, and my goal is to really end the year with a great run and pull out a few surprises. There's a lot of pressure with a lot of new guys like Alex Perelson coming into the sport, and then Sandro Dias and Bucky Lasek and my good friend Danny Mayer have been killing it too. When you get to the level like this where everybody skating in a contest could win it, you know it's going to be good."
Gagnon beat out skate stars Sandro Dias and Bucky Lasek in Prelims, battling it out for the top 8 spots to advance to Finals.
Other names to watch for in Finals: Danny Mayer is the only skater sticking kickflip McTwists in his runs. 17 year-old Alex Perelson boosts big airs and huge 720s to hang with vert veterans nearly twice his age. Andy Macdonald has 720s and frontside rodeo 540s and wants to get on the podium to get more airtime for the Vote for Change sticker on his helmet. Buster Halterman has been devoting half his time to mentoring younger riders like Adam Taylor and Elliot Sloan, and the other half to beating them to keep them in line. And Marcelo Bastos is the next young Brazilian skater to join the internation pro contest circuit.
Skate Vert Finals will get underway at 3:00 on Sunday, November 2 at Key Arena in Seattle, followed by the Skate Street Finals at 4:00.
