X Games Ventura 2024 Day 1

The world’s biggest action sports spectacle is on and popping! X Games Ventura 2024 is drawing massive crowds with history-making performances in a festival atmosphere – and Monster Energy is crushing podiums!

On the first day of competitions inside Ventura County Fairgrounds & Events Center, the Monster Energy Team claimed seven medals (2 gold, 3 silver, and 2 bronze) across four contest events.

Seven X Games medals in four contests in one day? Amazing start with two more days of competitions to go! 

Here’s how it all went down for the team at X Games Ventura 2024 so far:

MENS VERT

TOM SCHAAR CLINCHES WIN IN NAIL-BITING FINAL

GONE WITH THE WIND? The Men’s Skateboard Vert final on the massive halfpipe was off to a difficult start. With heavy winds gusting over the 14-foot-tall halfpipe, riders struggled for large parts of the contest to put down a flawless run. For several rounds, Tom Schaar even held the top spot with a run that was full of banging tricks, but only 75% completed.

PUTTING IT DOWN IN THE CLUTCH: When it all came down to final runs, Jimmy Wilkins seemed cemented in the top spot. Until Schaar came through on his last attempt with a run for the books: alley-oop backside 540 melon, backside 540 tailgrab, alley-oop heelflip Indy nosebone, frontside nosegrind, kickflip Indy to fakie, Cab 720 tailgrab, alley-oop backside lipslide, kickflip body varial, McTwist bigspin backside lipslide, and 360 tailgrab fakie for 92.00 points and the gold medal.

“The wind definitely wasn’t helping at all. But everyone absolutely killed it. That was an insane contest. That was crazy! I’m just happy I made a run,” said Monster Energy’s Schaar upon claiming gold at X Games Ventura 2024.

VERT RENAISSANCE: Schaar’s other gold medal came from Big Air, and this is first career gold in Vert. He’s been driving a vert skating renaissance, localizing Tony Hawk’s private halfpipe and building his tricks. And it shows! 

Schaar now owns 12 X Games medals (2 gold, 4 silver, 6 bronze).

SHIBATA GETS SILVER: Fourth run was the charm for another Monster Energy rider: 28-year-old Moto Shibata from Osaka, Japan battled the wind for three runs before it clicked. Cheered on by his sponsor, vert skate legend Christian Hosoi, he put down a perfect run to claim silver.

A stylish run featuring alley-oop front foot impossible lien air, alley-oop McTwist, kickflip McTwist, mute tweak to fakie, fakie 540 nosegrab, fakie 540 mute grab, frontside Cab Madonna, sugar cane grind, Indy nosebone to fakie, and signature Kamikaze Air (frontside Cab front foot impossible air) earned Shibata a score of 89.66 points and second place.

Shibata now owns 8 X Games medals (1 gold, 6 silver, 1 bronze).

These two skaters will be back in Saturday’s Men’s Skateboard Vert Best Trick. Don’t miss it!

BMX STREET

PERAZA DEFENDS GOLD MEDAL IN PODIUM SWEEP FOR TEAM MONSTER ENERGY

BACK-TO-BACK GOLD: Somebody forgot to tell Kevin Peraza that winning gold in BMX Street usually never happens two years in a row. But the defending gold medalist from Tucson, Arizona, is on cloud nine right now after becoming a dad, so he just rode with a huge smile and walked away with gold against all odds.

COME-FROM-BEHIND VICTORY: Honestly, Peraza had a rough start to his BMX Street final. His flawless run featured 270 downside tailwhip over toothpick down the rail, double peg up the rail to hard 360 out, huge flair on the small quarter, bonk 360 off the side of a ledge, and 180 tailwhip over the sunglasses. But it only earned Peraza 36.33 points (a score protested by X Games OG commentator Jack Mitrani, among others). 

NEW SCORE FORMAT: Riders now earn their winning scores by putting down Runs and Best Tricks. So even though Peraza found himself outside of podium contention because of his Run store, he had a chance to win with a big trick. And he found one! His pegs to hardway 180 downside tailwhip off the VW bus roof rack rail rocked the crowd to earn 44.33 points and a winning score of 80.66 to claim the gold.

“To start out my weekend at X Games with another gold medal in BMX Street again, I’m speechless!” said Peraza upon taking gold at X Games Ventura 2024, adding: “BMX is really an incredible community with the best athletes in the world and it’s the best family in the world I recently became a father and that was the most insane and special moment of my life.”

Peraza now owns 9 X Games medals (6 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze). He is the only athlete in XG history with gold from BMX Dirt, Park and Street.

GODWIN OUT OF NOWHERE: No athlete from Wales has ever medaled at X Games. At least not until 28-year-old Jordan Godwin from Cardiff, Wales dropped into the sesh as the first rider and instantly locked himself into the top spot with an amazing run. He earned 41.33 points for technical tricks such as toothpick hanger, pegs hard 360, unlucky grind to 180, pole jam 180, switch footed toothpick hanger drop pedal to 180. 

In Best Trick, Godwin put down a crooked to crooked grind to 180 icepick peg bonk up the rail for 37.33 points. And with 78.66 points total, Godwin earned silver as his first X Games medal and made history for his native Wales!

MILLS ROUNDS OUT THE SWEEP: Locking in third place for Team Monster Energy, 26-year-old Lewis Mills from Terrey Hills, Australia, put down a perfect run including icepick grind the entire 40-feet rainbow rail, barspin icepick grind to hop over, toothpick hanger, cab 360 over the chain, over peg grind to hard 180 out and a manual 180 line for 36.66 points. In Best Trick, he finessed a technical switch ice pick to tailwhip up the rail scoring 38.66 points. With a total score of 75.32 points, Mills took home X Games bronze in a final for the history books.

Mills now owns 3 X Games medals (1 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze).

WOMEN’S BMX PARK

GERMANY’S KIM MUELLER TAKES BRONZE IN DEBUT MEDAL EVENT

HISTORIC PRECEDENT: In a big moment for women’s action sports, the Women’s BMX Park final was contested for the first time with six countries represented. Riding at the top of her game, reigning German champ 22-year-old Kim Lea Mueller from Remscheid, Germany, secured her spot on the podium by earning the bronze medal in her first run out of three. 

A huge 360 can-can over the tall jump box, air on the deep end wall, can-can on the quarter pipe, tailwhip in the corner, foot plant on the Sonic sign sub ledge, one-hand air over the jump box, alley-oop 270 over the hip, and bar spin on the quarter pipe earned Mueller 84.00 points and the bronze medal. She also upped the ante in her last run by throwing the 360 can-can as a one-hander. Mueller makes history as the third female athlete from Germany to earn a medal in a summer X Games contest in any discipline. Epic day at X Games Ventura 2024!

MOTO X BEST WHIP

VANSTIPPEN STEALS SILVER ON LAST ATTEMPTS

COME-FROM-BEHIND VICTORY: The roar of dirt bike engines closed out an amazing Friday at X Games in the Moto X Best Whip event. In the fierce final session that saw several big names eliminated in the cut to the final four riders, 28-year-old Julien Vanstippen from Ophain, Belgium, held his own until the very end. 

When it came down to final attempts, Vanstippen looked poised to repeat last year’s bronze medal finish. Not bad, but the Belgian had other plans: In a massive surprise Vanstippen pulled an extra stylish inverted whip on his last attempt to clinch the silver medal in Moto X Best Whip at X Games Ventura 2024. Boom! 

Vanstippen now owns four X Games medals (1 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze).

Stay tuned when X Games Ventura 2024 returns on Saturday with competitions in BMX, Skate, and Moto X disciplines inside Ventura County Fairgrounds & Events Center.