The MoonPay X Games League Championship Goes Down to the Wire in New Orleans
Number one draft pick Chloe Covell’s gold puts XC New York into the top spot for the XGL Championship over XC Tokyo and surpasses skate legend Leticia Bufoni’s record
NEW ORLEANS (July 25, 2026) – The inaugural MoonPay X Games New Orleans 2026 Championship is one day away from crowning its first-ever MoonPay X Games League (XGL) champions, and the top overall draft pick by XC New York, Chloe Covell, put her club into first place in the day’s last event.
In the MVP race, Mizuho Hasegawa (XC Tokyo) leads with 600 points and Gui Khury (XC São Paulo) with 550. Heading into the season’s final day, if Khury takes gold in Men’s Skateboard Vert, he’ll finish with 650 points and Hasegawa must earn bronze or better in Women’s Skateboard Park to claim MVP. If Khury takes silver, Hasegawa will only need to finish fourth or better.
A packed day of skateboarding, BMX and Moto X showcased the world’s best action sports athletes, and after the second day of intense competition, XC New York has taken the lead in the XGL championship standings with 2,280 points, 20 ahead of XC Tokyo’s 2,260. XC São Paulo is in third place with 2,120 and XC Los Angeles goes into Sunday with 2,050.
Saturday’s action in New Orleans featured eight events: MoonPay Women’s Skateboard Vert Best Trick, Stake Dave Mirra BMX Park Best Trick, MoonPay Men’s Skateboard Vert Best Trick, Monster Energy Men’s Skateboard Street, Moto X Best Trick, Stake Men’s BMX Dirt, Stake Men’s Skateboard Park, and Monster Energy Women’s Skateboard Street.
MoonPay Women’s Skateboard Vert Best Trick
Mia Kretzer finishes her season with a never been done trick to claim gold
With an average age of 16, Women’s Vert Best Trick is the youngest competition at X Games New Orleans 2026. The all-teen (and tween!) final ranged in age from 11 to 19. The 11-year-old Mia Kretzer (XC Los Angeles), already had the most medals of any tween in X Games history and on Saturday, she added to the haul, topping the field in the MoonPay Women’s Skateboard Vert Best Trick. It’s Mia’s fourth X Games gold and seventh medal overall, with five coming in 2026. Mia’s never been done (NBD) fakie body varial 720 clinched the win. The silver medalist in Friday night’s Women’s Skateboard Vert, she cemented her status as the best value pick in the 2026 X Games League draft: The 39th of 40 total picks now has 420 points, or 26% of XC LA’s total.
Asahi Kaihara (Free Agent) threw down a switch front foot impossible tailgrab to grab second place. Kaihara adds silver to her Vert bronzes in New Orleans and Sacramento. Her career tally sits at five X Games medals, all in Vert (one silver, four bronze). Mizuho Hasegawa (XC Tokyo), the X Games League MVP points leader, took the bronze with an alley-oop body varial 540. She reached 600 points putting her in reach of clinching the crown. With 12 career medals, she has matched legend Leticia Bufoni’s record for most medals of any woman competing in summer disciplines.
Mia Kretzer: “I went back home for a week after Chiba and I was trying to find a big trick to throw down for the championship. I was training to get the Fakie 540, but I just kept spinning, and eventually, I got the 720, and I was super stoked to get that and I thought it’d be really cool to throw down today.”
Stake Dave Mirra BMX Park Best Trick
R-Willy is golden again, winning his 14th X Games gold
Ryan Williams (XC São Paulo) took the win in the Stake Dave Mirra BMX Park Best Trick competition with “The Oliver Twist,” an alley-oop frontflip 540 flair that honors his late friend Oliver Tree. He now has 17 medals in 26 X Games starts (14 gold and three silver). R-Willy also won Park Best Trick gold in Sacramento, which was his third in this discipline. Williams, with 6.5 million followers on social media, has more followers than any other athlete at X Games New Orleans. He remained alive in the X Games League MVP points race starting the day, and his win keeps him in contention for the crown. He took his victory lap in a bright pink and purple jacket from Tree.
Justin Dowell (Free Agent) nailed a 360 Twix to tailwhip for the silver medal, and while Kieran Reilly (Free Agent) was unable to land a flair double tailwhip to double barspin, but a flair double tailwhip to barspin secured third place for the Brit.
Ryan Williams: “The crowd was super good! And I have a lot of scooter homies here too, which stoked me up! Everyone was sending it…lots of crashes out there, but there always are!”
MoonPay Men’s Skateboard Vert Best Trick
Gui Khury extends his winning streak in the event to eight
Gui Khury (XC São Paulo) has dominated Vert Best Trick with a staggering eight consecutive gold medals (nine total), and he’s won most of those contests on the strength of a kickflip body varial 900 It was no different in New Orleans. Khury now owns 13 X Games gold and 20 medals overall, which is by far the most golds and total medals of any teen in X Games history. The Brazilian is now one win shy of the all-time record for most consecutive golds in a single discipline, which is co-owned by Jamie Bestwick (BMX Vert) and Tucker Hibbert (Snowmobile SnoCross). The gold was vital to keeping Khury’s X Games League MVP chances realistic. He has 510 points with two comps still to come this weekend and after this event, he has the highest maximum point potential of any remaining athlete, with 710.
Tom Schaar (XC Los Angeles), the oldest competitor in the field at 26, landed a alley-oop kickflip lipslide backside revert for his first medal in the discipline and 21st overall. Schaar is on track to move into third place on the list of most competition starts all-time at X Games. He entered New Orleans at 49 and could leave with 53. (legend Andy Macdonald collected 59 total X Games starts over his career). JD Sanchez (Free Agent) took the bronze with a varial double kickflip Indy 540. He missed the Chiba contest after an injury in practice and came back strong in New Orleans. JD owns four medals (three silvers in Skateboard Vert and a bronze in Vert Best Trick at X Games Salt Lake City 2025.
Gui Khury: “I did this trick the last time, and it seemed to work, and it worked this time as well, so I’m happy about that. And thank you, New Orleans. You guys are the best. Yeah, the nicest people, and they have really good restaurants here [laughs]. But I just have to thank you guys from the bottom of my heart; it’s been a great opportunity.”
Monster Energy Men’s Skateboard Street
The gold medal gives Ginwoo Onodera three straight in the event
Ginwoo Onodera (XC New York) was five years old the last time a Men’s Skateboard Street athlete won three consecutive gold since Nyjah Huston won four in a row. Now 16, Onodera has completed the hat trick in New Orleans. He also became just the second athlete to win three Street golds in a calendar year (Huston, 2013). He owns medals from eight of his 10 X Games starts, including four gold. Onodera leads XC New York’s with 470 points, which have powered them to their current second place position.
Toa Sasaki (XC Tokyo) won silver for his championship-leading club with his first career X Games podium. Juni Kang (Free Agent) has now been on the podium in each of his five X Games Skateboard Street starts, going silver, bronze, silver and now, bronze, while nursing an injured right wrist this weekend. Kang won Street Best Trick on Day One in New Orleans.
Ginwoo Onodera: “I’m kind of bummed with yesterday’s best trick, but I’m really happy that I was able to be here with a team and win, you know. I’m really happy! It doesn’t really matter if it was run one or two and I just really wanted to contribute to the team for myself. And I’m really happy to get this win! The very last trick, the kickflip front blunt fakie down the rail, the rail is not round and no one else could do that and it was my trick that could.”
Moto X Best Trick
Jose Canosa wins the gold medal on his last run
Spain’s Jose Canosa scored a 97.00 on a never been done frontflip double seatgrab Indian air on his final jump to get to the top of the podium. The youngest rider in the field, the 23-year-old Spaniard is competing in just his second X Games after Chiba, where he earned silver. Over the past month, Canosa has rapidly mastered multiple frontflip variations and learned the double backflip soon after switching to freestyle from motocross racing.
Rob Adelberg took silver by .33 of a point over Patrick Evans with a frontflip seatgrab dead body. He has been one of the most consistent riders in Moto X Best Trick history, reaching the podium in 14 of his last 15 appearances, including bronze in Sacramento and gold in Chiba. With 23 career X Games medals, he is the most decorated Australian in X Games history. Rounding out the podium is Evans, the only rider competing on an electric bike, which delivers power more predictably and eliminates the possibility of stalling. He threw down a Frontflip Superman seatgrab IndyHis bronze joins the gold he won in Sacramento.
Jose Canosa: “It’s my first time in the USA, and second time at X Games. It’s a dream. I’ve always watched these guys riding and being here with them, this is a dream. So, I don’t know what more to say – only train, train, train more to get more of this. People always tell me that the USA is insane. And finally, I just say that the crowd here is incredible. I’m so happy to be over here and I will come back.”
Stake Men’s BMX Dirt
Brady Baker becomes the first four-time gold medalist in the event
Since 1995, 27 X Games BMX Dirt contests have been held and only three riders have at least three gold medals. With his win in New Orleans, Brady Baker (XC Los Angeles) is now the first four-time champ. The 23-year-old showed everyone in Sacramento why he’s widely considered the best contest Dirt rider ever, and he further strengthened that position in the Superdome. He did it with a Twister tailwhip, cash roll to tail windshield wiper, 360 kickless rewind superman tailwhip.
Silver went to Mike Varga (Free Agent), a four-time Park Best Trick gold medalist and the most decorated rider in the discipline, who scored a 93.00 with a backflip bar spin, double tailwhip, 720 barspin to bar spin, 720 double whip. He is competing in three disciplines in New Orleans: Park Best Trick, Dirt Best Trick, and Dirt. One of the sport’s most respected and well-liked riders, Varga joked after his Chiba victory that he was a gun for hire if a Club wanted to call him up. “I’ve got a trick!” Ryan Williams (XC São Paulo) secured his 18th career X Games medal overall (14 gold), with this his first bronze, after his run of a double backflip tailwhip, frontflip kickless tailwhip, cash roll.
Brady Baker: “You know, I have a baby girl on the way, and I’m going to be a father, so if I’m going to keep doing this, I wanna do it at the highest level. And when I show up to these events, be ready to go. So that’s been my motivation, and yeah, it’s to have a good time.”
Stake Men’s Skateboard Park
Tom Schaar becomes the fourth skater to win three gold medals in the event
In the 31-year history of a discipline that has had remarkable parity, just three men had earned three or more gold medals: Chris Senn (three) and Rodil de Araujo (four) in the earliest days of X Games, and Pedro Barros (six). Tom Schaar (XC Los Angeles) became the fourth with a stellar run in New Orleans. It’s Schaar’s third gold in the discipline and sixth X Games gold overall. The 26-year-old, who’s been competing at XG since he was 12, now owns 22 medals overall. That’s the fourth-most Skateboard medals in X Games history. Schaar was the Park silver medalist in Chiba and bronze medalist in Sacramento.
Two-time gold medalist Keegan Palmer (Free Agent), a good friend and rival of Schaar and the bronze medalist in Chiba, won silver in his third run in the Superdome. Egoitz Bijueska (Free Agent) rounds out the podium. Just 15 years old and in his rookie year at X Games, the Free Agent already owned a gold and silver from his previous two Park starts. His medals put Spain on the X Games Skateboard map, the first medal and then the first gold for a Spanish skater at X Games.
Tom Schaar: “It’s amazing. I fell on my very first trick on my very first run, so that was not the greatest feeling ever. But to make it right after that one, definitely a lot of pressure that came off my shoulders. The team is great. I mean, I finished my run. I come over to the LA booth and they’re all cheering me on. It’s just been a lot of fun. It gives you a whole other kind of level to just…It makes you feel like a fan, honestly. Yeah, like I’m just cheering on everyone.”
Monster Energy Women’s Skateboard Street
Chloe Covell comes up golden in the clutch, putting XC New York on top of the standings
Chloe Covell (XC New York) delivered for her club, winning gold and boosting New York to the XGL championship lead. Covell, the top overall pick in the XGL Summer Draft, now has 12 career X Games medals (seven gold, two silver and three bronze) including medals from her seven most recent starts and eight of her nine total starts in the Street discipline. The gold medal on Saturday also tied Leticia Bufoni’s record (12) for most medals from women’s summer disciplines. She has a chance to pass Bufoni on Sunday.
It was a huge event for XC New York, with Covell’s gold and Momiji Nishiya’s silver giving XC New York 180 points, enough to take the overall XGL lead. Yumeka Oda (XC Tokyo) rounded out the podium with a bronze. She now has six career medals – one silver and three bronze in Street; one gold and one bronze in Street Best Trick.
Chloe Covell: “I’m so stoked, so happy to do it for my team, especially. We were so close to getting into the number one spot and Momiji and I did so good. I’m so happy to be in first place! All us girls are such good friends and are trying to have a good time and push each other. We’re all a big team together! It’s so crazy I don’t even think about things like that [tying Bufoni] until I’m told. Leticia means so much to the sport and I’ve been hanging out with her all weekend. I have the best team ever. Steve [Rodriguez, XCNY GM] is the best ever. Let’s go win more medals!”
New Orleans Day Two Competition Results:
- MoonPay Women’s Skateboard Vert Best Trick Final
- Gold – Mia Kretzer (XC Los Angeles), Baldivis, Australia
- Silver – Asahi Kaihara (Free Agent), Osaka, Japan
- Bronze – Mizuho Hasegawa (XC Tokyo), Ibaraki, Japan
- Stake Dave Mirra BMX Park Best Trick Final
- Gold – Ryan WIlliams (XC São Paulo), Sunshine Coast, Australia
- Silver – Justin Dowell (Free Agent), Virginia Beach, VA, USA
- Bronze – Kieran Reilly (Free Agent) Newcastle, Great Britain
- MoonPay Men’s Skateboard Vert Best Trick Final
- Gold – Gui Khury (XC São Paulo), Curitiba, Brazil
- Silver – Tom Schaar (XC Los Angeles), Malibu, CA, USA
- Bronze – JD Sanchez (Free Agent), Waianae, HI, USA
- Monster Energy Men’s Skateboard Street Final
- Gold – Ginwoo Onodera (XC New York), Yokohama, Japan
- Silver – Toa Sasaki (XC Tokyo), Yangsan, Korea
- Bronze – Juni Kang (Free Agent), Mie, Japan
- Moto X Best Trick Final
- Gold – Jose Canosa, A Coruña, Spain
- Silver – Rob Adelberg, Benalla, Australia
- Bronze – Patrick Evans, Huntington Beach, CA USA
- Stake Men’s BMX Dirt Final
- Gold – Brady Baker (XC Los Angeles), Toms River, NJ, USA
- Silver – Mike Varga (Free Agent), Oshawa, Canada
- Bronze – Ryan Williams (XC São Paulo), Sunshine Coast, Australia
- Stake Men’s Skateboard Park Final
- Gold – Tom Schaar (XC Los Angeles), Malibu, CA, USA
- Silver – Keegan Palmer (Free Agent), Currumbin, Australia
- Bronze – Egoitz Bijueska (Free Agent), Bilbao, Spain
- Monster Energy Women’s Skateboard Street Final
- Gold – Chloe Covell (XC New York), Tweed Heads, Australia
- Silver – Momiji Nishiya (XC New York), Osaka, Japan
- Bronze – Yumeka Oda (XC Tokyo), Nagoya, Japan
Full results can be found in the X Games New Orleans 2026 Media Kit.
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