Summer X Games 2021 Returns In July With Events In Three Southern California Locations

On Monday, ESPN will announce its plan to hold Summer X Games 2021 in Southern California from July 14-18 across three distinct venues that have been action sports hubs over the years—Riverside, Ramona and Vista. Like the Aspen 2021 event, the summer iteration will not have spectators due to Covid-19.

X Games has had to get creative to hold its biannual competitions in 2021 (the Summer 2020 event, which was set to be the last in Minneapolis, was canceled) amid the pandemic. Though fans may be disappointed they can’t attend Summer X Games 2021 in person, the back-to-its-roots approach may be even more rewarding for action sports lovers.

First up on the schedule on July 14 will be the BMX park, Dave Mirra’s park best trick and BMX dirt competitions, which will be held at Pat Casey’s 10,000-square-foot backyard course in Riverside, nicknamed “Dreamyard.”

The course began as a basic backyard ramp when Casey purchased his first home at the age of 18 in 2013. It progressed to a 10,000-square-foot, full-scale, technical dirt and park course. For X Games, course builders came in and changed up the course to meet the event specifications—and give Casey, who rides it daily, less of an edge on his competition.

The change Casey is most excited about is banking out the vert wall, because it will open up other lines for riders to take while riding the ramp. “I think that changing up a few things will level the playing field in terms of competition, and will help me in the long run because of more line possibilities and more trick opportunities,” Casey said.

BMX Freestyle will debut alongside skateboarding at the Tokyo Olympics. Team USA’s Nick Bruce, who qualified for the inaugural Olympic men’s park event, will compete in BMX park at Dreamland before heading to Tokyo for the Games.

Team USA’s Daniel Sandoval, who will also compete in BMX Park at X Games, posted on Instagram that he was “devastated” to be announced as an Olympic alternate after not qualifying. “But this keeps me motivated and I will continue to work hard and keep pushing,” he wrote. With that fire burning in his belly, he’ll be someone to watch for sure at X Games.

Team USA’s BMX park riders Hannah Roberts, who won her third world title earlier this month, and Perris Benegas, the 2018 world champion, qualified to represent the U.S. in the women’s event at the Tokyo Games. X Games does not yet offer women’s BMX medal events in park or street.

X Games will then move to Ramona on July 15, to the site of Axell Hodges’ childhood home, which over the years has been transformed into a world-class Moto X course including a racetrack, quarterpipes, kicker ramps, wallrides, manual pads and massive dirt jumps. “Slayground” will be the site of Moto X best trick, best whip, freestyle, quarterpipe high air and a new 110s racing discipline.

Hodges is no stranger to changing the setup at Slayground, so he welcomed the course designers’ changes. For the last video shoot in the Slayground series, he and his team brought in the wall ride, manual tables and rainbow box, as well as the quarter pipe to bank.

“And a lot of these obstacles can be repositioned if you want to put together a certain line or sequence,” Hodges said. “So the terrain has always evolved and now we have to up the ante a bit more for X Games, so I’m just as hyped as everyone to take it to the next level here!”

Both Casey and Hodges can’t quite believe that the action sports competition they grew up watching as kids and now get to compete in will literally be taking place in their own backyard this summer.

“I never would have thought that X Games would be happening at my house for a total of four events. It is definitely crazy!” Casey said. “I’m ecstatic and hope the event goes well and that we can all have a great time. I am honored to be hosting X Games at my house; it feels like a dream come true.”

“Never in a million years” would Hodges have imagined Slayground would play host to X Games Moto X events, but, then again, he points out, “Who could have imagined this crazy year of full lockdown because of the pandemic? And going this entire time without any summer X Games or big stadium events?”

In that sense, Hodges said, “I’m actually super stoked and honored to host the first real X Games with all the top guys after all we’ve collectively been through. Bringing the biggest names in freestyle motocross out here for a session—and with real X Games medals on the line—feels absolutely amazing. I think everyone is going to be ready to send it.”

Wrapping up this year’s competition on July 16 and 17 will be the skateboarding events, as well as BMX street, held at the new CA Training Facility in Vista, the first and currently only high-performance skateboarding training center. Skateboard street, park, vert, vert best trick and street best trick will all go down at the CATF.

Some of the best skateboarders on the planet will compete at X Games just days before heading to Tokyo for the Olympics, including Brazil’s Leticia Bufoni, Great Britain’s Sky Brown and Australia’s Poppy Olsen.

There is no vert skateboarding event in the Olympics, but the best vert skaters in the world will compete at X Games, including Mitchie Brusco, who became the first to land a 1260 in competition on the mega ramp at X Games Minneapolis 2019, and Gui Khury, who, at 11, landed the first 1080 on vert (non-mega ramp).

X Games will also capitalize on the growing popularity of its Real series; in May, the mountain bike contest attracted more viewers than any other Real series contest in 12 years.

On July 5, eight skateboarders (Axel Cruysberghs, Ducky Kovacs, Matt Berger, Frankie Spears, Milton Martinez, Chris Colbourn, Alexis Ramirez and Jake Anderson) and six BMX athletes (Chad Kerley, Julian Molina, Broc Raiford, Jake Seeley, Courage Adams and Felix Prangenberg) will drop new video parts on XGames.com, which will air during the X Games 2021 telecasts on ABC.

“We are thrilled to produce an X Games this summer and once again showcase the premier athletes in the world across the ESPN and ABC networks,” said Tim Reed, vice president, programming and acquisitions. “This year will be different—we’re excited about the unique opportunity to partner with our athletes to showcase some incredible facilities.  We have no doubt that the Dreamyard, Slayground and CATF will put us in a great position to create memorable moments.”

ESPN will stream more than 15 hours of X Games competition July 14–18 on ESPN, ABC and ESPN2, as well as the ESPN App. All competitions will stream live on @XGames digital and social media platforms, where fans can also access behind-the-scenes content featuring their favorite athletes, find sponsor activations at the virtual X Fest and more.

Source: Forbes