# Best Male Action Sports Athlete ESPY Award

The Best Male Action Sports Athlete ESPY Award is an annual award honoring the achievements of a male athlete from the world of action sports. It was first awarded as part of the ESPY Awards in 2004 after the non-gender-specific Best Action Sports Athlete ESPY Award was presented the previous two years (with American snowboarder Shaun White receiving the 2003 award). The Best Male Action Sports Athlete ESPY Award trophy, created by sculptor Lawrence Nowlan, is presented to the male adjudged to be the best action sports athlete in a given calendar year. Balloting for the award is undertaken by fans over the Internet from between three and five choices selected by the ESPN Select Nominating Committee, which is composed of a panel of experts. It is conferred in July to reflect performance and achievement over the preceding twelve months.
The inaugural winner of the Best Male Action Sports Athlete ESPY Award at the 2004 awards was freestyle BMX rider Ryan Nyquist. During 1997 and 2003, Nyquist won eleven out of eighteen available freestyle BMX medals at the X Games. He became the first freestyle BMX rider to be nominated for, and thus the first to win, an ESPY Award. The 2006 winner of the Best Male Action Sports Athlete ESPY Award was Shaun White. He was nominated a further five consecutive times between the 2008 and 2012 ceremonies, all of which he won, making him the athlete with the most victories with six. The two other athletes to have earned successive awards are street skateboarder Nyjah Huston and motocross rider Ryan Dungey. Canadian snowboarder Mark McMorris became the first non-American to win the accolade in 2017 by earning three medals at that year's X Games in Minneapolis. Snowboarders are the most successful sportspeople with seven awards, followed by motocross riders, with four, and street skateboarders, with three. It was not awarded in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The most recent winner of the award was American Motocross and Supercross racer Eli Tomac in 2022.

## Winners and nominees

Best Male Action Sports Athlete ESPY Award winners and nominees :
| Year | Image | Athlete | Nationality | Sport(s) regularly contested | Nominees |
| 2004 | – | Ryan Nyquist | United States | Freestyle BMX (park and dirt jumping) | Brian Deegan ( USA) – Freestyle motocross Bucky Lasek ( USA) – Skateboarding Chad Reed ( AUS) – Motocross/Supercross |
| 2005 | | Dave Mirra | United States | Freestyle BMX (street, park, and vert) | Ricky Carmichael ( USA) – Motocross Andy Irons ( USA) – Surfing Bucky Lasek ( USA) – Skateboarding |
| 2006 | | Shaun White | United States | Snowboarding (half-pipe) | Jamie Bestwick ( GBR) – BMX Ricky Carmichael ( USA) – Motocross Kelly Slater ( USA) – Surfing Jeremy Stenberg ( USA) – Freestyle motocross |
| 2007 | | Travis Pastrana | United States | Motocross/rallying | Ricky Carmichael ( USA) – Motocross Kelly Slater ( USA) – Surfing Danny Way ( USA) – Skateboarding Andreas Wiig ( NOR) – Snowboarding |
| 2008 | | Shaun White | United States | Snowboarding (half-pipe, slopestyle), Skateboarding (vert) | Kevin Pearce ( USA) – Snowboarding Chad Reed ( AUS) – Supercross Kevin Robinson ( USA) – BMX |
| 2009 | | Shaun White | United States | Snowboarding (half-pipe, slopestyle), Skateboarding (vert) | Ryan Sheckler ( USA) – Skateboarding Kelly Slater ( USA) – Surfing James Stewart Jr. ( USA) – Motocross |
| 2010 | | Shaun White | United States | Snowboarding (half-pipe, slopestyle), Skateboarding (vert) | Bobby Brown ( USA) – Freeriding Ryan Dungey ( USA) – Motocross Mick Fanning ( AUS) – Surfing Garrett Reynolds ( USA) – Freestyle BMX |
| 2011 | | Shaun White | United States | Snowboarding (half-pipe, slopestyle), Skateboarding (vert) | Tucker Hibbert ( USA) – Snowmobiling Travis Pastrana ( USA) – Motocross Kevin Rolland ( FRA) – Freestyle skiing Kelly Slater ( USA) – Surfing |
| 2012 | | Shaun White | United States | Snowboarding (half-pipe, slopestyle), Skateboarding (vert) | Travis Rice ( USA) – Snowboarding Kelly Slater ( USA) – Surfing Ryan Villopoto ( USA) – Motocross |
| 2013 | | Nyjah Huston | United States | Street skateboarding | Pedro Barros ( BRA) – Skateboarding Mark McMorris ( CAN) – Snowboarding Ryan Villopoto ( USA) – Motocross |
| 2014 | – | Nyjah Huston | United States | Street skateboarding | Grant Baker ( RSA) – Surfing Tucker Hibbert ( USA) – Snowmobiling Ryan Villopoto ( USA) – Motocross David Wise ( USA) – Freestyle skiing |
| 2015 | – | Ryan Dungey | United States | Motocross | Tucker Hibbert ( USA) – Snowmobiling Nyjah Huston ( USA) – Street skateboarding Mark McMorris ( CAN) – Snowboarding Josh Sheehan ( AUS) – Freestyle motocross |
| 2016 | – | Ryan Dungey | United States | Motocross | Pedro Barros ( BRA) – Skateboarding Nyjah Huston ( USA) – Skateboarding Gus Kenworthy ( USA) – Freestyle skiing Mark McMorris ( CAN) – Snowboarding |
| 2017 | | Mark McMorris | Canada | Snowboarding | Øystein Bråten ( NOR) – Freestyle skiing John John Florence ( USA) – Surfing Nyjah Huston ( USA) – Skateboarding |
| 2018 | – | David Wise | United States | Freestyle skier | Henrik Harlaut ( SWE) – Freestyle skiing Kelvin Hoefler ( BRA) – Skateboarding Marcus Kleveland ( NOR) – Snowboarding |
| 2019 | – | Nyjah Huston | United States | Street skateboarding | Scotty James ( AUS) – Snowboarding Gabriel Medina ( BRA) – Surfing Tom Pagès ( FRA) – Freestyle motocross |
| 2020 | Not awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Not awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Not awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Not awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Not awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic |
| 2021 | | Gabriel Medina | Brazil | Surfing | Marcus Kleveland ( NOR) – Snowboarding Yūto Totsuka ( JPN) – Snowboarding Cooper Webb ( USA) – Motocross/Supercross |
| 2022 | | Eli Tomac | United States | Motocross/Supercross | Alex Hall ( USA) – Skiing Yuto Horigome ( JPN) – Skateboarding Ayumu Hirano ( JPN) – Snowboarding |