Over 30,000 people are expected to attend the X Games at the Utah State Fairpark from June 27 to 29. Many athletes are already in town preparing, including 11-time X Games motocross medalist Colby Raha.
Raha broke a 51-year-old world record for the longest motorcycle jump to flat landing — 197 feet — just last weekend. During a press conference Thursday, Raha said he’s trying to continue that momentum.
“That record hadn’t been broken in over 50 years, it’s really gnarly, and then coming straight into here, this feels almost like low stress compared to that,” he said. “So yeah, just keeping it rolling, try to win and you know use the momentum.”
Raha will compete in the Moto X QuarterPipe High Air event where riders try to reach the greatest height. He said the mechanics on a dirt bike are very important and the elevation and heat come into play.
“Especially quarter pipe because it does come down to a lot of horsepower and you know the altitude is less oxygen,” Raha said. “So the motor is going to run with less horsepower, which means you're going to have to send it that much harder and give it full throttle that much earlier in order to win.”
Australian 15-year-old Arisa Trew will also compete. She’s a breakout skateboarder in the park and vert scene, which involves performing tricks on a large U-shaped ramp called a half-pipe or vert ramp. She has earned seven X Games gold medals in two years and plans to keep pushing herself.
“I just like want to push myself to just keep getting better and keep competing and just pushing the level of skateboarding because like, if somebody's progressing, it just like helps the whole sport progress,” Trew said.
Other top athletes, including 15-time X Games skateboard street gold medalist Nyjah Huston, fan-favorite and nine-time X Games BMX gold medalist Ryan Williams and 16-year-old Gui Khury, who has the record for most medals earned by a teenager, are also competing.
