For decades, X Games has been a proving ground for athletes who redefine what is possible on a skateboard, BMX bike, snowboard or motocross machine. The focus has always been on progression: bigger tricks, greater technical difficulty and performances that move entire sports forward.
But behind every iconic moment is an athlete whose career extends far beyond the competition floor, course or ramp.
Now, X Games is addressing a part of that journey that has largely existed outside its formal structure. The organisation has launched X Games Legends, its first official alumni programme in its 30-year history, designed to reconnect, recognise and support the athletes who helped build its global action sports community.
Since 1995, approximately 4,600 athletes have competed at summer and winter X Games events. The new initiative aims to ensure their connection to the organisation does not disappear when their competitive careers come to an end.
For action sports, where progression often comes with significant physical risks and years of personal sacrifice, that could be an important shift in how an athlete’s legacy is supported.
Beyond the podium: What happens after competition?
Winning medals and making history can define an athlete’s public image. Yet retirement introduces a different set of challenges, from finding new professional opportunities to maintaining relationships within an industry that moves quickly.
For athletes who spent years travelling between events, developing groundbreaking tricks and representing sponsors, transitioning into a new chapter can mean rebuilding their professional identities.
X Games Legends is designed to help bridge that gap.
“Athletes built X Games. There is no X Games without the generations of people who put everything they had into progressing their sports,” .
said Jeremy Bloom, CEO of X Games
Bloom acknowledged that the organisation had never previously established a formal alumni programme to recognise those contributions and maintain connections across generations.
The idea is simple: an athlete’s contribution to action sports should not expire when their competitive career ends.
That philosophy places former competitors at the centre of a community that can continue to create opportunities long after their final appearance at an X Games event.
What does the X Games Legends programme offer?
At the heart of the initiative is a verified, members-only online community open to current and former X Games competitors, connecting established champions with athletes who are still competing.
The platform offers several practical features:
- Athlete networking: A member directory and community map help former competitors reconnect, discover where fellow athletes live and explore shared competition histories.
- Event access: Members can request tickets and credentials to X Games events, keeping them connected to the organisation and its community.
- Brand opportunities: Exclusive benefits and professional deals are available through participating brands, including Burton, Armada and Atomic.
- Career development: Members can explore paid and unpaid opportunities involving brand partnerships, ambassador positions, media work and other projects.
- Direct engagement: Athletes can follow programme updates, share their stories and pitch ideas directly to X Games.
These features create a potential bridge between sporting achievements and the next phase of an athlete’s professional life.
For competitors who have built valuable reputations, relationships and specialist knowledge, staying connected could open doors into broadcasting, coaching, brand development, event production and athlete mentorship.
The programme’s longer-term value, however, will depend on how effectively those connections translate into meaningful opportunities.
Legends supporting the next generation
The programme is led by Kristi Leskinen, a former X Games freeskier appointed as the organisation’s first Legends Director.
Her experience as a competitor places her close to the culture the initiative is designed to preserve. Rather than treating the alumni community as a collection of past achievements, the programme aims to keep those experiences active and useful.
That includes creating opportunities for experienced athletes to mentor younger competitors, share lessons learned through their careers and contribute to the future direction of action sports.
Snowboarding star Scotty James, an 11-time X Games medallist who remains active in competition, sees value in connecting athletes across different generations.
He described the initiative as a way to honour the people who helped shape the sport while recognising the influence they can continue to have on those coming through the ranks.
That perspective matters because the action sports community depends on more than individual performances. Knowledge is passed between riders, shared in training environments and developed through years of experimentation, setbacks and progression.
Preserving that knowledge could be just as important as celebrating the medals that made these athletes famous.
From physical risk to long-term wellbeing
X Games Legends also aims to work with the X Games Foundation to expand support beyond competition.
The intended areas include financial education, education for life after sport, mentorship, brain health and mental wellness resources.
These are significant areas of focus in disciplines where athletes can spend years balancing demanding training schedules, sponsorship expectations and the physical consequences of pushing their limits.
Motocross athlete Travis Pastrana, a 17-time X Games Moto X medallist, welcomed the initiative’s potential to connect athletes with brands, ideas and opportunities while strengthening the wider community.
BMX medallist Anthony Napolitan expressed a similarly ambitious hope: that the programme could become a leading platform for athletes navigating life after their competitive careers.
The Foundation, an independent 501(c)(3) organisation, has a broader mission to expand access to action sports, support athletes, encourage innovation and strengthen the communities that inspire the culture.
The Legends programme provides a potential route towards those goals, although the practical reach and outcomes of its support will emerge over time.
A legacy that keeps moving
The launch of X Games Legends represents an opportunity to rethink how action sports organisations value their athletes.
The next generation will always chase the next breakthrough, but the people who established today’s standards carry knowledge and experience that should remain part of the sport’s future.
For athletes such as Torah Bright and Greg Lutzka, the programme also offers something more personal: a chance to reconnect with competitors who shared the same journeys, events and formative moments.
Thirty years after X Games began, the challenge is no longer simply to celebrate the athletes who made history, but to give them meaningful ways to shape what happens next.
X Games Legends is an important first step towards that ambition. Its lasting impact will be measured not only by the size of its alumni network, but by the relationships it rebuilds, the opportunities it creates and the support athletes can access when the spotlight moves on.