2018 X Games Minneapolis, MN

In Skateboard Street all eyes will be on Nyjah Huston, reigning Street League Skateboarding Super Crown Champion and 13-time X Games medalist. Having made his X Games debut in 2006 at age 11 – the youngest athlete in X Games history at the time – Nyjah is hungry for the win after settling for bronze in Minneapolis last year. His teammate and bona-fide Thrasher Magazine Skater of the Year Ishod Wair is also no stranger to podium spots and always a force to be reckoned with after taking bronze in 2016.

Monster Energy is also charging into Skateboard Park with a stacked team and a brand-new addition: All-terrain talent and Thrasher Magazine Skater of the Year Grant Taylor joins the roster and already took X Games Park silver in 2014. Fresh off a win at the Vans Park Series Pro Tour Event in São Paulo, Brazil, Tom Schaar heads to Minneapolis as a clear favorite: A seven-time X Games medalist, Schaar has been competing at X Games since 2012 and evolved from child prodigy to one of park riding’s leading innovators over the past years.

Speaking of prodigy, 17-year-old rookie Trey Wood (X Games Sit Down) is on a tear right now after winning this year’s Tampa Pro bowl event and earning his sixth X Games appearance with a second place finish at the X Games Skate Park Qualifiers in Boise. And don’t count out NorCal ripper Raven Tershy from Santa Cruz as a proven X Games gold medalist and podium threat.  

When it’s time for the Women’s Skateboard Park competition, Lizzie Armanto (X Games Sit Down) returns in full force after closely missing the podium in Minneapolis last year and claiming silver in 2016.

Over in Skateboard Vert, team rider Sam Beckett is looking to continue his X Games legacy: At X Games Austin 2016, Beckett earned his first gold and fifth career X Games medal and also made history as the first UK-skateboarder to win X Games gold.

On the subject of making history, last year’s Skateboard Big Air saw Tom Schaar emerge as the first competitor ever to win medals in Big Air and Skateboard Park. He will be back to up the ante this year, joined by six-time X Games gold medalist and Big Air trailblazer Jake Brown. His teammate Trey Wood has been entering Big Air competitions since age 11 but has yet to medal – will that change in Minneapolis?

Let’s get into BMX: In the BMX Vert contest, the winningest BMXer in X Games history, Jamie Bestwick, has a score to settle after missing gold last year by fractions of a point. With 14 gold medals, 3 silver and 1 bronze under his belt, the inventor of moves such as the alley-oop tailwhip 540 is the man to watch. In BMX Big Air, James Foster will be defending last year’s gold medal win against a heavy field.

Proving his all-round skills once again, six-time X Games gold medalist Kyle Baldock from Australia will be going for gold as a triple threat in BMX Park, BMX Dirt, and Dave Mirra’s BMX Park Best Trick where he took gold last year. In the BMX Street event, award-winning innovator Dakota Roche is looking for his fourth medal.

The BMX Dirt competition is bound to get heated as two-time silver medalist Ben Wallace (X Games Sit Down) wants to take home his first gold – but not if last year’s winner and Monster rider Colton Walker (X Games Sit Down) has the last word. And never underestimate the crossover skills of one James Foster, who claimed Dirt bronze in 2016 and Big Air gold last year, or the young talent of Alex Nikulin (X Games Sit Down) and Mike Varga (X Games Sit Down). Rounding out the high-octane BMX schedule, the man to beat in BMX Park is last year’s winner Kevin Peraza, who will be facing heat from Kyle Baldock and Colton Walker.

This year’s motocross events are also bound to stoke the crowd, with Josh Sheehan competing in both Moto X Freestyle and Moto X Best Trick. Known for his all-round talent and deep bag of tricks – including one of the best double backflips on the pro circuit – the six-time X Games medalist has won every major event in the sport and is far from finished.

Also competing in both events, fellow Australian stunt pilot Jackson Strong – three-time X Games gold medalist and first to land a front flip at X Games – is back after last year’s Best Trick Silver. The two will be joined in both Moto X Freestyle and Moto X Best Trick by FMX innovator Taka Higashino in his 11^th X Games appearance and Harry Bink who has yet to medal at X Games, but landed the world’s first rock solid front flip in 2017.

Moto X Best Whip is once again the pinnacle of style and maximum air time with last year’s silver medalist Jarryd McNeil gunning for a podium spot next to Best Whip trailblazer Axell Hodges. McNeil will also be defending his gold medal in Moto X Step Up: Will we be seeing a rematch with teammate Bryce Hudson after last year’s close battle for the top spot? Also look forward to Moto X Quarterpipe High Air, where Monster Energy’s Josh Hill is aiming to make his mark.

For no-holds-barred racing action, the Harley Davidson Hooligan Racing event rewards the fastest riders on race-modified Harley-Davidson street motorcycles. Look out for Monster’s Ricky Rinauro, Buddy Suttle, and Nick Leonetti in this rough-and-tumble race for first place.

Closing out a rocking weekend in the Twin Cities on Sunday night, the Flat Track racing event will feature Jared Mees, who took gold in 2016 and silver in 2017, next to last year’s bronze medalist Brad “The Bullet” Baker competing in a field of 25 of the world’s fastest professional flat track racers.