Best Male Action Sports Athlete ESPY Award
Year 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
List of winners and nominees
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.