The X Games are a series of action sports events founded by ESPN Inc. which air on the ESPN family of networks including ABC. The events are mainly held in the United States, with disciplines such as skateboarding, BMX, motocross, skiing and snowboarding. Participants compete to win bronze, silver, and gold medals, as well as prize money. Concurrent with competition is the "X Fest" sports and music festival, which offers live music, athlete autograph sessions, and interactive elements.
Freeride is a discipline of mountain biking closely related to downhill biking, Dirt Jumping, freestyle motocross, and freestyle BMX. When riding a freerider one focuses on tricks, style, and technical trail features. Freeride is now recognized as one of the most popular disciplines within mountain biking.
Cédric Gracia is a French mountain biker, who now lives in Andorra.
Ryan Nyquist is an American professional BMX rider with 16 X-Games medals, 39 X-Games competition starts and 60 Dew Tour finals appearances. Nyquist is considered one of the greatest and diversely skilled BMX riders ever. Nyquist has won numerous gold medals in the X Games Dirt Jumping & Bike Park events. Recently Nyquist has had an interest in freeride mountain biking and has been training in mountain biking as well as BMX. He currently rides for Haro Bikes, Vans Shoes, Rockstar Energy Drink, and The Jiffy Market of Los Gatos.
The Gravity Games was a multi-sport competition originating in Providence, Rhode Island that was broken down into Winter and Summer adaptations. The competition featured a variety of extreme sports such as aggressive inline skating, skateboarding, freestyle motocross, BMX freestyle and snowboarding.
Freestyle motocross is a variation on the sport of motocross in which motorcycle riders attempt to impress judges with jumps and stunts.
The Red Bull Rampage is an invitation-only freeride mountain bike competition held near Zion National Park in Virgin, Utah, United States, just to the north of Gooseberry Mesa. From 2001 till 2004, it was held off the Kolob Terrace Road, on the western boundary of Zion National Park.
Thomas Pagès is a French freestyle motocross rider famous for his unique tricks and his style that has mostly excluded backflips for the past few years. The biggest achievements of his career were becoming the champion of the 2013 Red Bull X-Fighters world tour and winning the gold medal at X Games Austin 2015 in the Toyota Moto X QuarterPipe competition for his Bike Flip.
Nicholi Rogatkin is an American professional bike rider from Lincoln, Massachusetts, United States. Currently ranked #2 in the World. 2016 World Champion and 2018 Triple Crown Winner. The winningest FMB World Tour athlete with over 25 wins.
Brandon Semenuk is a Canadian freeride mountain biker and rally racer from Whistler, British Columbia. Semenuk is a three-time Freeride Mountain Bike World Tour Gold Medalist. He is a five-time Red Bull Joyride winner, X-Games Real MTB Gold Medalist (2021), and X-Games Silver medalist (2013) in the Mountain Bike Slopestyle event. He is the 2022 American Rally Association presented by Dirtfish National Champion. Red Bull Rampage winner; 2008, 2016, 2019 and 2021 - the 1st person to win Rampage four-times. He is known to be "always emulated, never imitated" and is known as one of the best slopestyle/freeride mountain bikers in history.
Brett Rheeder is a professional freeride mountain bike rider from Mount Albert, Ontario. Rheeder is an X-Games athlete and gold medalist winner of the 2013 Munich Slopestyle Mountain Bike event. He is often regarded as the greatest slopestyle rider in mountain biking. Rheeder is a 4x FMB World Tour Champion, the most in event history. He's also a x7 Crankworx event champion, which includes his 2016 Red Bull Joyride win.
Darren Berrecloth, nicknamed "The Claw", is a professional freeride mountain bike rider. Born in Parksville, British Columbia, Canadian Darren Berrecloth is famous not only for his success in competitions, but also as one of the pioneers to the sport of freeride. He exploded onto the freeride scene with a third-placed finish at the 2002 Red Bull Rampage, and has been one of the leading riders in the world ever since.
Anthony Messere is a professional freeride mountain bike rider from Surrey, British Columbia. He made his debut at Crankworx Red Bull Joyride in Whistler, British Columbia in 2011 at fifteen years old. Becoming the youngest athlete ever on a Crankworx podium, placing 3rd. He was considered a prodigy and was the first of a new generation of Slopestyle. In 2014 he won Crankworx Les Deux Alpes Slopestyle, which was his first major Slopestyle victory. Also taking another 3rd at Crankworx Whistler later in 2014. Placing 3rd overall in the FMBA world tour.
Martin Söderström is a professional Freeride mountain bike rider from Uppsala, Sweden.
Cameron "Cam" Zink is an American professional freeride mountain bike rider and X Games athlete.
Kelly McGarry was a professional New Zealand freeride mountain biker and X-Games Athlete. He was known for his best trick award in the 2013 Red Bull Rampage when he backflipped a 72-foot canyon gap. The video of the flip went viral on YouTube, getting over 200 million views. McGarry was one of the most prolific and recognised participants in the sport of freeride mountain biking. His participation in Crankworx events made him a recognisable figure in the sport, and in 2015, McGarry held the record for most consecutive appearances at the event.
Sam Pilgrim is a professional freeride mountain biker. Known for his missing tooth and his unique style of tricks, he has gained international fame with his YouTube channel exposure under his name Sam Pilgrim in which he makes videos documenting his extreme stunts on various courses around the world. He was an FMB World Tour overall winner in 2013, becoming the first European athlete to win the competition since its establishment in 2010.
Ethen Godrey Roberts, is a professional Freeride Mountain Bike and FMX rider known for his participation with the extreme sports show Nitro Circus. He's the first to land a triple backflip on a mountain bike and has since become a pioneer of big mountain bike tricks, like a tsunami double backflip (2013) and triple backflip (2014). He's a pioneer athlete in the Snow Bike Winter X Games event, eventually winning a bronze medal in the 2019 Snow-Bike Best Trick event. He's also the nephew of the legendary action sports pioneer Gregg Godfrey who is the co-founder of Nitro Circus.
YT Industries is a German mountain bike manufacturer. Founded in 2006, the company operates in a direct-to-consumer model. YT also has showrooms at their headquarters in Hausen, Germany, and "YT Mills" in San Clemente, California, and Guildford, Surrey, England, with a third location planned in Bentonville, Arkansas. With its origins in dirt jumping and freeriding, YT has expanded its lineup to include all forms of mountain biking and gravel biking.
Kyle Strait, born on April 4, 1987, is an American freeride slopestyle mountain biker from Alpine, California. He began racing in 2000 on the Monterey peninsula at the age of 12. He participated in the first edition of Rampage in 2001 at the age of 14, won the contest in 2004 and again in 2013. As of 2023 Strait is the only rider to have participated in every edition of Red Bull Rampage. In 2022, he was unable to complete a run after breaking 3 vertebra in a practice session. Less than a year later, Strait was able to compete in Red Bull Hardline, and competed in Rampage again in 2023.
