Don't miss these extreme-sports stars at the 2023 summer X Games in Ventura

When the X Games arrives in Ventura this week, it will bring some of the biggest names in extreme sports to the Ventura County Fairgrounds.

The field is expected to include one of the youngest Olympic gold medalists ever, a former world No. 1 completing a comeback from a career-pausing injury, a legend vying to become the most decorated athlete in X Games history, and one athlete who has become so big his backyard is an X Games venue.

Here’s a short list of the athletes to watch this weekend:

Momiji Nishiya

Skateboard

Nishiya became the third-youngest gold medalist in Olympic history by winning the first Women’s Street skateboarding competition in Tokyo in 2021. She was just 13.

By then, however, she was already an X Games veteran, having made her debut at 11 years old in 2019, when she won silver.

The now 15-year-old skateboarder from Osaka, Japan, is the defending X Games Women’s Street Gold medalist. She skipped X Games Japan earlier this year and finished eighth at the World Street Skateboarding Rome last month.

Nishiya recently signed a sponsorship agreement with Sanrio to apply Hello Kitty stickers to her decks in competition.

Nyjah Huston

Skateboard

One of the most successful street skateboarders of all time, the 28-year-old Davis native was ranked No. 1 in the world when he tore an ACL in August. Less than a year later, Huston won the men’s street finals at World Street Skateboarding Rome last month.

The six-time World Champion and 13-time X Game gold medalist can announce his return with authority in Ventura. He earned silver in men’s street Best Trick, fifth in Street and 10th in Real Street Best Trick in last summer’s X Games.

He has his own line of Nike signature shoes, has been sponsored by Doritos and Mountain Dew, and launched his own skateboard brand, Disorder Skateboards, in 2021.

Garrett Reynolds

BMX

The 32-year-old BMX rider from Toms River, New Jersey, tied Shaun White’s record for most gold medals in X Games history with his 15th last summer. He can become X Games’ most decorated athlete with more gold in Ventura.

Reynolds has earned a medal all 18 times BMX Street has been offered at the X Games, winning 13 of the past 17 competitions. He was third earlier this year at X Games Japan.

Reynolds is sponsored by RedBull and has started his own bike company, Fiend BMX.

Elliot Sloan

Skateboard

The 35-year-old New Yorker went from being drawn to skateboarding by Tony Hawk during the 1999 X Games to hosting the first day of the X Games last summer in the MegaPark in his backyard in Vista.

The “Sloanyard” continues to be an active X Games venue. It will host MegaPark skateboarding and BMX on Thursday.

Sloan has won seven X Games gold medals, including Vert Best Trick in 2002 and earlier this year at X Games Japan, and owns 16 total medals. His sponsors include Monster beverages, Hurley and Indian motorcycles.

Rob Adelberg

Moto X

The 34-year-old freestyle motocross rider is the most decorated Australian in X Games history with 16 medals, including seven golds.

At last summer's X Games, he became the first rider to land back-to-back front flips in competition, taking gold in both the Moto X Freestyle and Best Trick competitions.

He is sponsored by Rockstar Energy.

Other X Games athletes to know

BMX rider Ryan Williams already has five X Games gold medals, including BMX MegaPark last summer and BMX Park Best Trick in Japan earlier this year.

Jimmy Wilkins, the 29-year-old from Columbus, Ohio, had won record five straight gold medals in the Men’s Skateboard Vert before Edouard Damestoy won the event at X Games Japan in May.

The entire Olympic medal podium from the Men’s Skateboarding Park event in Tokyo — Keegan Palmer, Pedro Barros and Cory Juneau — will meet again in Ventura.

Rayssa Leal, a 15-year-old Brazilian, already has two X Games gold medals and an Olympic silver medal in Women’s Skateboarding Street. Just like Huston, Liz Akama is looking to follow her victory last month at World Street Skateboarding Rome with X Games success.

At 12, Cocona Hiraki became the Olympics’ youngest medalist in 85 years by winning silver in the Women’s Skateboarding Park. Now 14, she will be one of the women to watch.

Ten-year-old Canadian native and California resident Reese Nelson, who Tony Hawk has called "a prodigy," will make her X Games debut in the Women's Vert.

And, of course, there’s Curren Caples, who will make his first X Games appearance in seven years in his hometown. The 27-year-old Ventura native won gold medals in Men’s Skateboarding Park in Munich in 2013 and Austin in 2015.

Joe Curley is a staff writer for The Star. He can be reached at joe.curley@vcstar.com. For more coverage, follow @vcsjoecurley on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: X Games: Momiji Nishiya, Nyjah Huston and more stars to watch