Congrats are in order for Pierre Luc Gagnon!
The 35-year-old Canadian skateboarder bagged an incredible 21st X Games career medal – his 9th Gold overall, and 7th Gold in the Skateboard Vert competition at X Games Austin on Friday afternoon (June 5) at The Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.
In a hotly contested final on the outdoor vert ramp, with temperatures exceeding 93 degrees Fahrenheit, PLG kept his cool and stacked together a highly difficult routine on his second run for a 92.33 point final score. Coming in hot off a recent win at the KIA World Extreme Games, PLG impressed the judges panel of vert skateboarding legends with a run covering all angles of the 13 feet, 6 inches-high and 38-feet wide halfpipe.
PLG’s standout moves included varial kickflip mute to fakie into an extremely difficult switch heel flip frontside 360, huge backside and body varial 540s, alley-oop kickflip mute, a highly technical overturned 180 to switch feeble on the lip, and a contest-winning nollie heelflip Indy 360. Having secured his lead early on with a perfect first run, PLG’s top score saw him finishing six points ahead of his next competitor, England’s Paul-Luc Ronchetti.
“Stoked to be back in Austin and feeling great after last year’s injury,” said PLG. I couldn’t have hoped for a better turnout in this year’s event. Thank you Monster for all the support.”
Paul-Luc Ronchetti placed second in the competition, receiving a score of 86.00 while Sam Beckett came in third place with a score of 82.33.
Watch PLG’s winning run below!
