‘If you’re not first, you’re last’: Bucky Lasek going for skateboarding gold at X Games

Skateboarding legend Bucky Lasek is still showing the kids what’s what on the vert ramp as he returns for another Summer X Games.

Bucky Lasek will compete in his 21st X Games later this week in Minneapolis, Minnesota — but he’s not necessarily counting.

“21st? Yeah, that’s fine,” he says as we sit down to discuss his upcoming turn at X Games Minneapolis 2018 in the skateboarding vert competition, a discipline which he’s stamped his name all over time and time again.

In his 20 previous X Games, Lasek has nabbed 20 medals — 14 total in vert, eight total golds — across both skateboarding and rallycross racing. At 45 years old, he is the most decorated vert skater in X Games history — and he’s not done yet.

Heading into this year’s event, Lasek is sixth on the all-time X Games medals list, behind Bob Burnquist (30), the late Dave Mirra (24), Andy Macdonald (23), Shaun White (23) and Pierre-Luc Gagnon (21).

Lasek isn’t close to calling it a career, but when he does, where does he want to be on that list?

“Maybe bump up to fifth? I don’t know. Get into the top five. I’ve missed some good opportunities in the past,” he muses. “There’s always tomorrow.”

Lasek, who hasn’t been on the podium in vert since Los Angeles in 2013, where he took gold, has turned in some strong runs in the last few years. He knows that his tricks are good enough, with moves like the cab heelflip and backside air in his bag.

But as with all of skateboarding — all of action sports, really — what it comes down to on contest day is execution.

“I feel pretty strong every year and then it comes down to not being able to make it happen,” he says. “I’m not going to take a different approach this year. You know, if you’re not first, you’re last.”

It’s a sentiment a lot of the skateboarders I’ve spoken to ahead of the annual contest have expressed — even the younger ones, like 21-year-old Mariah Duran, who competes in women’s skateboard street. There are no awards for showing up.

So if Lasek isn’t going to take a different approach this year, I ask him to tell me a little bit about his dream run — the kind of run where everything is flowing and he’s landing all of it.

“One of these runs from the past six years would be good for me,” Lasek says. “I don’t set my goals crazy…I don’t wanna set them high with some crazy freaking superman run. If I could just do what I wanna do, I could get in the top three.”

In the vert contest, skaters take three 45-second runs with the best score of the three serving as the final number to determine standings. Judges base them on execution of maneuvers; difficulty; variety; continuity of run; originality and style; amplitude and use of the ramp.

“If I could just do what I wanna do, I could get in the top three.” —Bucky Lasek

“Everyone is capable of pulling out one run out that’s untouchable,” Lasek says. “You get 13 tricks for a run. The potential is there for sure.” He also points out that it’s not even all about who takes the final. “The qualifying prelims are going to be gnarlier than the finals this year,” he says. That’s just the level the sport is at.

Winning is great, but you should have fun doing it. I ask Lasek about his favorite tricks, and the one that he can never get. The first — frontside bluntslide, whereas the 720 is his “nemesis.”

Lasek faces some steep competition once again this year.

2017 vert gold medalist Moto Shibata returns to defend his title, as well as runner-up Jimmy Wilkins.

And don’t underestimate 2017 bronze winner Mitchie Brusco. Lasek came in fifth last year, beating out Andy Macdonald, Paul-Luc Ronchetti and Bob Burnquist, among others.

“Mitchie, Jimmy and Moto — those guys pretty much skate every day and do contest every runs every time they drop in,” Lasek says. “They’ve been pretty consistent. They’re pretty much the guys to beat.”

Lasek also has the intel on the younger skaters to watch. The names he offers in vert are Clay Kreiner and Edi Frenchi (Edouard Damestoy) — “a really cool kid, and a good skater.”

As for park? “Heimana [Reynolds] is on fire, very social and outgoing,” Lasek says. Also on his list: Tom Schaar, Pedro Barros and women’s park competitor Jordyn Barratt.

(Editor’s note: FanSided also spoke to Reynolds and Barratt, who grew up together in Hawaii, ahead of the X Games; read their profile here.) 

You heard it from the source. Keep an eye out for any of those men’s vert skaters to claim gold when they take to the halfpipe in the qualifiers at 6:00 p.m. ET on Thursday and the final immediately afterward at 10:00 p.m.

As for what comes after skateboarding, Lasek isn’t there yet, but he is thinking about what his legacy would mean. An advocate for young skaters and someone who has built houses for charity, Lasek sees himself as a helper, and would love to be remembered for that in addition to his pile of metal.

“I feel like someone who would always go out of their way to try to help someone, whether someone needs CPR or someone needs some lunch money,” Lasek says. “I feel like I help out a lot — I try to. To be remembered like that would be pretty cool.”

Next: 5 skateboarders to watch at X Games Minneapolis 2018

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