Incredible moments from the X Games

When it comes to jaw-dropping stunts, exhilarating races and athletes pushing the boundaries of what’s possible, the summer X Games have it all.

Featuring events like skateboarding, BMX, , and more recently, esports, the X Games is an annual extreme sports event which attracts competitors from across the world.

BBC Bitesize has taken a look at some of the most incredible athletes in summer X Games history, and the astonishing feats they were able to pull off. These are tricks which are definitely best left to the professionals.

Skateboarder Tony Hawk hangs in the air, having taken off from a wooden vertical ramp at the X Games. He is wearing a white top, black shorts and black protective gear. — Image caption,
Tony Hawk competes at the 1998 X Games, a year before landing the 900°

Tony Hawk makes history with the 900°

Back in the late 90s, successfully landing the 900° was what many skateboarders were striving for. This trick involves skating up the side of a and while in the air, rotating two and a half times.

In 1999, Tony Hawk was taking part in the X Games’ Skateboard Vert Best Trick competition, in which skateboarders compete to perform the most impressive moves. He’d already attempted the 900° ten times in that competition, coming close to landing on his feet on several occasions.

Officially, time had actually run out when Tony went for his 11th attempt, but he was encouraged to keep going. That time he was successful, landing the first 900° in skateboarding in front of a jubilant crowd.

This wasn’t a one-time achievement though. 17 years later in 2016, Tony filmed himself landing the 900° on his home ramp.

Setting records from a young age

Skateboarder Guilherme ‘Gui’ Khury went one step further than Tony Hawk in 2021, when he became the first person to land a 1080° rotation in competition. That’s three full rotations. Incredibly, he was only 12 years old at the time, making him the X Games’ youngest ever gold medallist. Gui actually beat Tony himself in this competition, with the legendary skateboarder taking part for the first time since 2003.

Gui had already made history when he landed the 900° at the age of eight, the youngest person to ever do so.

When Brighton Zeuner won the gold medal in the Women’s Skateboard Park event in 2017, it was the day after her 13th birthday. That made her the youngest gold medallist in X Games history at the time (pre-Gui Khury). Two years earlier in 2015, she had became the youngest X Games female athlete ever at the age of 11. In 2018 she struck gold again in the same event, making her the youngest back-to-back gold medallist.

Brighton has also had gold medal success at the World Skateboarding Championships, and represented Team USA at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Women’s Skateboard Park takes place in a hollowed-out course with steep sides, which may also be referred to as a bowl. To score points, skaters must perform creative tricks such as grabs, spins and grinds.

A photo of a man halfway through a backflip on a motorbike. The motorbike is bright yellow and the top half of his leather outfit is red and black check. — Image caption,
Travis Prastrana performs the first double backflip at the 2006 X Games

Multi-talented winners

Travis Pastrana has won an incredible 17 X Games medals, across several different sports. Arguably, the highlight of his X Games career came in 2006 when he won three gold medals, only the third athlete to do so.

Not only that, Travis became the first person to land a double backflip on a Motocross bike in competition, securing the win in the Moto X Best Trick event. In order to learn this incredibly dangerous stunt, Travis would practice using a foam pit.

His other two gold medals that year came in Rally Car Racing (making its debut at the X Games) and Moto X Freestyle.

Travis is married to skateboarder Lyndsey "Lyn-Z" Adams Hawkins, who is herself a three-times X Games gold medallist, winning the Women’s Vert (an aerial style) in 2004, 2007 and 2009. She was also the first woman to land the ‘McTwist’, a 540° spin in which the front hand grabs the toeside of the board between the feet.

The first X Games athlete to win three gold medals at one competition was Dave Mirra, back in 1998. He secured victory in three BMX disciplines: Park, Vert and Vert Doubles.

Motocross rider Ashley Fiosk sits astride a Red Bull motorbike. She is wearing purple and white leathers and has wavy blonde hair. — Image caption,
Ashley was the first deaf guest to appear on the late-night TV talk show, Conan

Overcoming more than the usual obstacles

Ashley Fiolek is a two-time X Games gold medallist in Women's Moto X Super X, winning in 2009 and 2010. In doing so, she became the X Games’ first ever deaf medallist.

Born profoundly deaf, Ashley is unable to hear the changes in sound of the motocross engine which normally indicate to a rider when to shift gears. Instead, she has trained herself to become attuned to the slightest changes in vibration, feeling when the engine is struggling rather than hearing it.

In order to stay safe in a race, Ashley must rely on her sight. She is unable to hear when a rival is approaching from behind or the side, and so has to regularly check her surroundings with quick glances.

This article was published in April 2022.