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Laguna Beach's Nyjah Huston returns to skate as X Games celebrates 30 years
A numbers game might favor Nyjah Huston at this weekend's X Games.
The action sports showcase turns 30 years old this year.
Huston, the highly decorated skateboarder, is also 30. He celebrated his golden birthday (when the date of one's birth coincides with one's age) on Nov. 30.
'It's the 30th anniversary, is it really?' Huston said Tuesday morning during an informal press conference with other Monster Energy athletes Kevin Peraza, Jackson Strong and Ryan Williams, held on Zoom. 'Damn, that's sick. No one told me that, but 30 is my number and it's my year.'
Huston, who lives in Laguna Beach, won't mind if his golden birthday was a prelude to more gold at the X Games. He's going for it this weekend in Salt Lake City at the contest, which starts on Friday and wraps up Sunday.
He has 15 X Games gold medals since his debut, tying him with Shaun White of snowboard and skateboarding fame for the second-most all time. BMX bike rider Garrett Reynolds has the most, with 16 golds.
'I grew up watching X Games,' Huston said. 'It's probably the first contest I ever remember watching, watching guys like [Tony] Hawk, Bob Burnquist, PRod [Paul Rodriguez], people I still look up to, to this day. To be up there in that most-medals-ever conversation is special. But I think my favorite part about it is that I don't feel like I'm done yet, and I feel like I've still got a decent amount more in me.'
Huston earned an Olympic bronze medal last summer in Paris in the men's street event.
At 30, he definitely is a veteran in the sport, widely considered the best skateboard street competitor of all time. In May, he won his 27th Street League Skateboarding title in Miami, and Huston is the reigning SLS Super Crown World Champion.
The sport itself still excites him as much as ever.
'Bro, did you watch the street contest out there in Osaka?' he asked his fellow athletes with amazement during Tuesday's news conference. 'I don't know if you guys saw it. I just watched it a couple of days ago, and I was like, what the hell. Those were the craziest runs I've ever seen. That's insane. That's what's so cool about skating. Even aside from all of the contests, we love being out in the streets and just challenging ourselves.'
X Games heads to Salt Lake City for the first time this weekend. Though it's been updated since then, Huston said he skated in a street league on the same course a few years back.
He'll take whatever slight advantages he can get. Not that he usually needs them.
'[The X Games gold medal record] is definitely a little extra incentive and motivation,' he said. 'I mean, I'm still such a competitive dude. It's hard to let that side of me go. I've always been so competitive since I was a little toddler. As soon as I'm out there on the course, I'm doing what it takes to win. It would be great to get a couple of more [golds].'
