Athlete Profile

Nyjah Huston: Good Times, More X Games Gold

By Colin Bane

Nyjah Huston is a fun follow on social media.

There he is, rolling up to Coachella with a crew of stylish women. Then he’s DJing with Diplo at a house party -- HIS house party, and in gorgeous Laguna Beach. One minute he’s in Vegas, the next he’s doing donuts in his newly modded-out BMW M8 or riding a dirt bike over rugged trails.

Yeah, Huston is leaning into his rockstar status. Why shouldn’t he? The most decorated street skater in competition history -- by far -- has earned it. You know what else he’s doing? Still stacking serious street clips and winning major contests. And the 13-time X Games gold medalist will be a favorite once again at X Games Ventura 2024, just as he has been for *checks notes* fifteen years.

“Life is good! I’ve never been afraid to post about that stuff,” Nyjah says. “That’s just not how skaters are. We’re not afraid to show who we are as people, and I think that's important.”

Huston, now 29, has spent virtually his whole life in the action sports spotlight. He was just 11 years old when he debuted at X Games in 2006. At the time, he was the youngest athlete in X Games history, a mark he held until Jagger Eaton arrived in 2012 (multiple younger skaters have competed in recent years). So while Huston’s search has been more public, he’s like a lot of us -- he wants the right work-life ratio. Or, as he recently shared on Instagram, “a solid balance between wholesome and hectic.”

“My life has been constantly about that balance ever since I started becoming my own self throughout my younger teenage years, around 15 or 16,” he explains. “That’s when I finally had some freedom to really start living and enjoying my life.”

It’s not all about the good times, either. Huston also opened up about recovering from his first major injury, a torn ACL (among other tears) suffered in late summer 2022. A true core street skater, Nyjah sees the injury as a consequence of regularly “donating blood to the streets” and striving for the next never-been-done trick.

Huston In Harmony

Huston is branching out; he’s now a business owner in addition to his established philanthropy. He launched his own skateboard brand, Disorder, in 2021, and former X Games medalists like two-time champ Alex Sorgente are team riders. “It’s hard to even picture myself as the CEO or owner of the company,” Nyjah says. “I’m just a skater out here, still hungry and still cruising around with the bros, hitting them up every week, like, 'Who's down to go hit some spots?’”

He prioritizes family and friends and loves skating with kids at skateparks and in the streets. He’s usually down for photos and autographs when not laser-focused on landing a trick. That concentration and cool under fire has served him well -- he has a penchant for performing his best in pressure situations. He doesn’t care about his total X Games medal count (21, tied for 7th-most all-time) but knows his gold medal stats (13 total, but it’s the 10 Skateboard Street wins that matter most to him). He’d rather finish last while attempting a trick that could be good for gold than take silver or bronze. When it’s gold, the afterparty will be epic.

From Grom Phenom To Best Ever

Huston says watching a generation of street skating stars half his age -- teens like X Games Japan 2023 gold medalist Ginwoo Onodera and X Games California 2023 gold medalist Chloe Covell -- has him thinking back on his own story and legacy.

“I gotta say, I feel like back then, for my age, I was pretty on point,” Nyjah says. “It did take some years for me to get that first X Games win, so it was crazy to see Ginwoo get his first so fast. Props to him! That run he did in Japan was crazy! I see some similarities in my young self and a lot of these skaters coming up, especially the Japanese dudes, because the way they skate is just so precise.”

What is Nyjah’s wisdom for Ginwoo and Chloe and other groms?

“I know those wins feel great, but my best advice is don’t let it get to your head,” Huston says. “Skateboarding is not something that you can ever be too confident with. There’s too many moving parts and skateboarding is so technical, especially the tricks that these kids are doing nowadays. Just keep your head on straight and keep practicing.”

There’s no doubt that Huston enjoys cutting loose and getting the party started, but he takes his craft extremely seriously. He continues to log the hours.

“It’s all about making the most of your years because, bro, it doesn’t last forever,” he adds. “It takes some serious work to keep your body in shape enough to beat it up all the time in the streets. To all the young skaters out there, stay healthy and get out on the streets as much as possible, go grind as many rails as possible, and have fun doing it.”

Ventura Vacay

Though Huston is well-aware that he’s just one win shy of Bob Burnquist’s record 14 skateboard gold medals and two away from Shaun White and Garrett Reynolds’ all-time record of 15 X Games gold, Nyjah says he’s coming to X Games Ventura this year without some of the pressure he’s put on himself in the past.

It’s been a busy year, with Olympic qualifiers all around the world on top of an already crowded contest calendar. In comparison, he says, traveling up the California coast to X Games in his home state feels like a vacation.

“I loved going to Ventura last year and being able to bring my friends and having all the Cali fans come,” he says. “I’m sure this year is only going to be that much better. I’m hyped to be able to pack up the SUV with all the homies and come out and have a good, good time.”

And no one has a good time like Nyjah has a good time.

Nyjah Huston Bio Blast