White is no stranger to the Vert ramp though, and has competed in skateboarding off and on his whole career. There are distractions that take him away, mostly Olympic snowboard coaches, and those two gold medals he's won for his country, but he won't need to worry about that for a few years.
This has given him time to focus on skateboarding, which hasn't come without its setbacks. Last May, while skating the new park in Venice, CA he rolled his ankle, and any skateboarder knows that is an injury that can linger. And linger it did, enough so that it forced him to back out of the vert contest at the Boston stop of the Dew Tour, after already committing.
White hasn't competed in a major skate contest in years, which leaves questions in the minds of fans everywhere. What does he have in his skate repertoire? Has he healed? Can he put together a gold medal level run?
The competition is very stiff this year. It's not like the Street division, where you have guys being pulled in different directions from other contest organizations, forcing them to pick one or the other. The vert division WILL feature the best vert skateboarders in the world. Names like: Pierre Luc-Gagnon (PLG), Bucky Lasek, Bob Burnquist and young up-and-comer, Alex Perelson will all be competing.
PLG is the defending champion, and just won in Boston. So for lack of a better term, you can say he is coming in hot. Another competitor, who's coming in at an elevated temperature is Lasek. He won last year's Dew Tour Championship, and just last May won his second Pro-Tec Pool Party. Then, there's Perelson, who has a pretty consistent 900 in his pocket, and if he can put a run together; look out. He won the vert division in last year's Maloof Money Cup.
The final will be Friday July 30 from 7 PM - 11:30 PM on ESPN. You're not going to want to miss this.
Shaun White puts his wheels on. Photo: Christian Peterson via Getty Images.
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