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 – Freestyle BMX (park and dirt jumping) Brian Deegan () – Freestyle motocrossBucky Lasek () – SkateboardingChad Reed () – Motocross/Supercross 2005 Freestyle BMX (street, park, and vert) Ricky Carmichael () – MotocrossAndy Irons () – SurfingBucky Lasek () – Skateboarding 2006 Snowboarding (half-pipe) Jamie Bestwick () – BMXRicky Carmichael () – MotocrossKelly Slater () – SurfingJeremy Stenberg () – Freestyle motocross 2007 Motocross/rallying Ricky Carmichael () – MotocrossKelly Slater () – SurfingDanny Way () – SkateboardingAndreas Wiig () – Snowboarding 2008 Snowboarding (half-pipe, slopestyle),Skateboarding (vert) Kevin Pearce () – SnowboardingChad Reed () – SupercrossKevin Robinson () – BMX 2009 Snowboarding (half-pipe, slopestyle),Skateboarding (vert) Ryan Sheckler () – SkateboardingKelly Slater () – SurfingJames Stewart Jr. () – Motocross 2010 Snowboarding (half-pipe, slopestyle),Skateboarding (vert) Bobby Brown () – FreeridingRyan Dungey () – MotocrossMick Fanning () – SurfingGarrett Reynolds () – Freestyle BMX 2011 Snowboarding (half-pipe, slopestyle),Skateboarding (vert) Tucker Hibbert () – SnowmobilingTravis Pastrana () – MotocrossKevin Rolland () – Freestyle skiingKelly Slater () – Surfing 2012 Snowboarding (half-pipe, slopestyle),Skateboarding (vert) Travis Rice () – SnowboardingKelly Slater () – SurfingRyan Villopoto () – Motocross 2013 Street skateboarding Pedro Barros () – SkateboardingMark McMorris () – SnowboardingRyan Villopoto () – Motocross 2014 – Street skateboarding Grant Baker () – SurfingTucker Hibbert () – SnowmobilingRyan Villopoto () – MotocrossDavid Wise () – Freestyle skiing 2015 – Motocross Tucker Hibbert () – SnowmobilingNyjah Huston () – Street skateboardingMark McMorris () – SnowboardingJosh Sheehan () – Freestyle motocross 2016 – Motocross Pedro Barros () – SkateboardingNyjah Huston () – SkateboardingGus Kenworthy () – Freestyle skiingMark McMorris () – Snowboarding 2017 Snowboarding Øystein Bråten () – Freestyle skiingJohn John Florence () – SurfingNyjah Huston () – Skateboarding 2018 – Freestyle skier Henrik Harlaut () – Freestyle skiingKelvin Hoefler () – SkateboardingMarcus Kleveland () – Snowboarding 2019 – Street skateboarding Scotty James () – SnowboardingGabriel Medina () – SurfingTom Pagès () – Freestyle motocross 2020Not awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic 2021 Surfing Marcus Kleveland () – SnowboardingYūto Totsuka () – SnowboardingCooper Webb () – Motocross/Supercross 2022 Motocross/Supercross Alex Hall () – SkiingYuto Horigome () – SkateboardingAyumu Hirano () – Snowboarding

See also Best Female Action Sports Athlete ESPY Award Laureus World Sports Award for Action Sportsperson of the Year

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