The 25 Best BMX Performances in X Games History

Morgan Wade is one of the most exciting and burliest riders in BMX today. Not many guys step up to blasting high out of the Mega Ramp quarterpipe and even less try triple-tailwhip airs on it. The Mega Ramp quarterpipe is so dangerous, and for Morgan to come so close to landing this trick was heartbreaking. There is one attempt where the bike just stops spinning and he falls straight down from 15 feet above the 27-foot tall ramp with no chance of landing on his bike. He deserves to be in this countdown even though he didn't land the trick.

Downhill BMX racing only lasted two or three X Games, but people still talk about it today. Imagine racing seven other guys down a giant hill going over huge jumps and around big berms all while going top speed. It was something you wanted to see, but you didn't want to see the consequences. This was amazing because it opened the doors of what was possible in BMX even wider.

This trick at the time was relatively new and nobody did it over spine ramps. If they did do them, they just landed at the bottom of the ramp and lost all their speed. Both Dave and Jay showed up at the 1998 San Diego X Games and did this trick so perfect over the spine that riding was different after this event. They just proved all tricks could be — and should be — done everywhere.

Not much is said about Ryan Nyquist in this list, but he is one of the most recognizable riders besides Dave Mirra in the X Games. He has basically every trick wired — all the hard tricks and lots of funny ones too. A long time ago, he did an amazing run with his bars backwards. Here in 2006 he does a 720 with a barspin on the second rotation. Ryan really has all the tricks and he makes them all look easy, but they are so hard.

Morgan Wade doing a bike flip at the 2004 X Games pushed riding in a different direction. Basically, the rider makes the bike do a backflip while the rider stays still. It was thought of as fantasy, but Morgan somehow figured it out. He did it at the X Games in 2004 so casually. No one really thought you could have such a fantasy trick so dialed in.

I'm pretty certain that Gary Young has been in every X Games since 2002. The X Games would be completely different without him. He has the ability to find speed and lines where no one else can see it. Not only will he blow your mind in qualifying, but he will do you in during finals because he will somehow manage to one-up himself. This video shows him exploring possible lines during practice at X Games 16.

Bruce Crisman also won gold at the Philadelphia X Games in 2001. He came out of nowhere to take the gold medal in the park contest. He was a complete long shot to win the event, but when the big guns came up empty, Bruce's non-stop barrage of tricks and lines put the gold medal in his hands. He had a completely different and refreshing style of riding, plus he is one of the nicest guys to ever take home the gold.

Stephen Murray did the impossible trick on dirt. There wasn't any issue with a special ramp just plain guts to do this move. He ended up winning the gold medal as a result of this trick. Bruce Crisman wasn't the only newcomer to win gold at the Philadelphia X Games in 2001.

Brian Foster is the trail rider's rider. He was a pro racer who took his skills over to dirt jumping and all-around riding. He was known for doing seemingly impossible transfers within the jumps at the X Games. He'd already done this a few times. There was one particularly amazing transfer during the 1998 X Games in San Diego. Transfers have basically been eliminated through the years because it was hard to put a number value on it for judging purposes, plus the course designs have sort of elminated it. As a BMX rider, it is exciting to see a rider think outside of the box and do something no one has done before.

The new kids have come to town and they've brought their hard tricks. Anthony Napolitan showed up at the Mega Ramp event in 2009 with some serious moves planned. His double front flip had never been seen prior to the event and it was huge. This was a wild move that made you really excited for the future of riding and also nervous at how dangerous it was getting.

Ruben Alcantara never did all that well in the X Games, but he ended up on the cover of Ride BMX for his Ruben Wallride which was shot during the San Francisco X Games in 2001. This was around the point that Ruben became the most emulated rider in BMX. Ten years after this event, his riding style is still influential and will probably be that way for another decade.

Jay Miron was one of my favorite riders to watch growing up. You never knew what he was going to do. All you knew he was going to do something you didn't think was possible. First rider to do tailwhip 540, first rider to decade airs and first rider to do a double backflip. After every X Games he was in, you knew the sport would be different afterwards — it would be harder.

Raw power and will might be the best way to describe Brian Kachinsky (00:34 - 1:04). He definitely does not seem afraid of trying some of the scariest street moves going. Nollie hangover toothpicking down a mellow rail has got to be one of the scarier tricks out there — yeah, Brian does that in his run with ease.

What can you say about the legend that is Van Homan (1:49 - 2:14)? Van can ride everything, but will forever be know for his epic street video parts. You would think Van would slow down as he got older, but his 2009 run proves that notion wrong. His run is jam-packed full of crazy tricks and lines. The manual to ride down the handrail to barspin out is just amazing.

Ty Morrow (2:15 - 2:46) is pure style, power and finesse. Usually you don't get burly tricks with this combination, but not in Ty's case. His run is nothing but amazing. All of us wish we could look that good on a bike.

Dominance is the best way to describe Jamie Bestwick. The guy has won four Vert gold medals in a row starting from X Games 13-16. He lands the smoothest, goes the highest, has the ability to link the hardest tricks and just does it all with style. This run he does in the link is probably one he can do in his sleep. He makes you think that it's so easy, but you know it's not even close. Over 99 percent of the BMX riders in the world cannot do what Jamie Bestwick does.

The 1996 X Games dirt contest was a wild one. The contest started to actually look like trails with a long and low jump for the first one and a booster for the second. This was the first time we had a somewhat legitimate looking dirt jump setup in the X Games. The contest brought out everyone: trail guys, vert guys, race guys and ramp guys. They all competed in this one. It was a rare moment when you got to see them all together in a dirt contest. Joey Garcia winning was great because he was a legitimate trail rider doing actual trail tricks.

Now talk about ridiculous, I honestly think this was the only time this trick has ever been done. No one else does it today. Vert riding has gotten so ridiculous since 2006 and Kevin's double flair is just that ridiculous. Imagine doing a double backflip to 180 on a 13.5 ft tall vert ramp while going as high and fast as you possibly can go. It seems like you can get so disoriented and over- or under-rotate so easily, leaving you on the ground knocked out or worse. To this day, I don't know how he pulled this.

When Dave did a double backflip in a contest during the 2000 X Games in San Francisco, the sport had changed. The trick had been done before, but never in a contest. It opened the door for a whole new era of seemingly impossible tricks to happen in a contest setting. You had this feeling that tricks were going to get ridiculous and even more dangerous. And riding has become just that.