One of the most exciting events in the extreme sports season took place July 21-23. The Summer X Games in California turned out to be a great show featuring sports like skateboarding, Moto X and BMX. This has been the first summer X Games event since the pandemic that opened its doors to spectators. The fans surely enjoyed seeing their favorites in action once again.
With the event over, it’s time to recap the best moments of the event!
Overall performance
Athletes from 17 countries competed in this installment of the games. Team-wise, Team USA took the lead in the games, getting 27 medals in total, with 10 of those being gold medals. Team Australia was next, with 15 overall medals and 5 golds – a good performance. The third Team place is Team Japan, winning 9 and taking 2 golds.
Skateboarding: New heights and rising talents
The skateboarding world has seen some star runs. Chloe Covell, team Australia, has become the youngest winner for the Women’s Street Skate at 13. She’s also the first woman from her country to win a gold at the summer edition of the games. Another fellow teammate, Arisa Trew, won the women’s vert competition, landing a first 720. She’s also taken the park by storm, and is now the first woman to win two golds in the X Games. With both of these athletes being so young, they’ve got a promising career ahead!
The men’s skaters have also been reaching new heights. Tony Hawk even came in to take part in the best trick vert event! The vert found plenty of new tricks, with Gui Khury, team Brazil, taking gold and landing a judo 900 straight off the bat.
Another exceptional performance on the vert was by Moto Shibata, team Japan, who landed the first ever alley-oop kickflip McTwist, which is a trick that hasn’t yet been done in a competition. Edouard Damestoy, team France, landed another first, with a frontside 720 to fakie after winning the MegaPark.
Yuto Horigome, Japan, won the street event and the street best trick, a feat last accomplished in 2002. Jimmy Wilkins, team USA, took his 7th gold medal this time around and landed a competition first tailgrab 720 to fakie. Jagger Eaton, USA, won by a small margin in the skateboard park, taking out Keegan Palmer, Australia. Palmer is an Olympic Gold medalist. The duo might just become a great rivalry for fans to watch for in the world of skateboarding. Here’s to the two pushing each other to be greater.
BMX and Moto: new records
Ryan Williams has successfully defended his current reign, taking gold with a great performance in the Mega Park. Kevin Peraza, team USA, was also thrilled with a great performance, with a gold in BMX Street. The BMX Park event culminated in Jose Torres getting gold, which is the first Argentinian X Games Medal so far.
Moto X High Air, has also seen some great performances. In this event, riders come down a quarter-pipe to get as high into the air as possible before landing. The set-up is simple, but the results are incredible, and the fan-base of the event continues to grow year on year. A new height record has been set by Colby Raha, USA. Going above and beyond, he superseded his previous record of 49 ft, reaching over 56 ft this time!
The action sports scene is getting more intense as people are gearing up for the summer Olympics of next year. With so many great performances already, we’re looking towards seeing the rising talents of the X Games shine at more competitions. You can catch up with the X Games and watch the highlights on YouTube and Twitch.
