Tween favorites and Leo Gutman aside, Westgate is the only legit Ishod withstanding case you could make for Best Skater of the Past 12 Months. (We’re not saying “SOTY” anymore to avoid any “There’s politics behind it bro!” proclamations from those privy to the obvious. BSOTP12M strives to be as objective as possible.)
His new Emerica part is obviously closer to the Gravity end of things than any plain old video part. However, Westgate’s superhumanness always gets brought back to earth because he does the best looking, most un-Battle of the Berrics-homogenized flip tricks of any young skater today. The terrain he does them on is sorta irrelevant; every part this dude puts out leads to a Kalis comparison, even if the spots they typically skate are nothing alike. Distinct-looking flip tricks are relatable because everyone knows the feeling of “Wow, that was a good one” on a trick they otherwise do a hundred times a day. It does not matter how much lower the bar orange cone may be set in our individual cases. (But maybe it does help that Westgate’s best examples aren’t done down stairs. Speaking of which, are there any #relevant stair skaters besides Reynolds, Herman and Forrest Edwards anymore?)