Athlete Profile
Ryan Williams: Action Sports Superhero
By Nicole Dreon
Ryan Williams was sick as a dog...
...when he arrived in Ventura during X Games California 2023. He felt much better leaving X Games with three medals, including two gold. It was one of the best performances by a BMX athlete in X Games history.
Ryan’s X Games 2023 journey started hours south of Ventura, in Vista, California, where the MegaPark discipline was contested. Williams rolled in from Australia a day before the comp and claimed gold while jet-lagged. He says his body had an “adrenaline dump” the next day, and he came down with the flu. “I was so, so sick, like sweating in bed sick,” he says.
It didn’t help that Ryan and his girlfriend, Jessica Highland, were staying at one of the seediest hotels in Ventura. “There were crackheads outside my f-ing door, and I was so sick,” he says. “One night there was a fire brigade, the next night with the police, and my girlfriend was scared. She was like, ‘Why did we get the Motel 6?’”
Because it was cheap. Despite one of the biggest social media followings in action sports, Williams had few sponsors. While his energy drink-sponsored peers were put up in hotels costing north of $1,000 a night, Ryan was footing his own bill.
He was sick and barely sleeping, but he didn’t care. Ryan was riding for his best friend, Luke Burland, who had died by suicide less than two months before X Games. He also had Pat Casey on his mind after the X Games champ was killed in a dirt bike accident in June 2023. Ryan forced himself to go to practice every day and dug as deep as possible.
After multiple harsh slams where he continued to “rise from the ashes” each time, Ryan used a double frontflip and a frontflip inward bikeflip on for BMX Dirt silver. He then landed a beautiful frontflip front bikeflip for Dirt Best Trick gold. In his winner’s interview, Williams -- the guy staying at economical lodging because he needed to save some cash -- dedicated his prize money to Casey’s family.
Another medal in Park Best Trick would’ve seen Ryan make history: No athlete ever has earned four medals at one X Games. Instead of settling for a familiar move to seal the deal, Ryan went for broke. He attempted the “special twist” but crashed hard on all four passes, aggravating an existing foot injury.
“I had the same amount of belief in myself that everyone in that stadium had for me, but my body just couldn’t keep up with my beliefs,” Williams says, adding that he could barely walk through the airport to catch his plane back to Australia.
More In Store At X Games Ventura 2024
When he lies in bed at night, Ryan says he doesn’t count sheep or whatever mere mortals do to fall sleep. Instead, he dreams up new tricks. “I really try to think about what hasn’t been done yet, why it hasn’t been done, and can I figure out how to do it.”
The next morning, he gets to work at R-Willy Land -- Ryan’s personal compound in Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia. Williams estimates that he’s landed at least 20 never-before-done tricks just since XG California 2023. The tricks are so innovative that one of his Instagram followers recently commented, “Dude, are you a video game?”
It’s not uncommon for Ryan to attempt a trick up to 200 times before he lands it. One trick -- the "Free Willy,” where the bike does a frontflip and he does a backflip -- took him 1,000 tries.
“I’m a professional crasher,” Ryan explains. “So even if there’s, like, a 5 percent chance that I could land it, I’m going to try that trick 200 times or 500 times until I land it. I always believe my next try will be the one no matter how many times I’ve tried it.”
While he won’t reveal his plans for X Games Ventura 2024, Ryan says he’s committed to innovation. “When I try these new tricks, I feel like I’m unlocking new levels for action sports as a whole,” he says. “I’m trying to innovate for the youth, the people, the generation coming up.”
She Said Yes
Ryan and Jessica won’t be staying at the Motel 6 for XG Ventura 2024: Williams finally landed a big sponsor, signing with Monster Energy at the turn of the year. And that’s not the only change for the couple…Ryan knew Jess was “the one” when he went to visit his “Nan” in the hospital this spring.
“I told my Nan, ‘I think I’m going to ask Jess to marry me,’ and when she looked at me the most excited and happiest I had seen her look in days, I knew I was going to do it,” he says.
Ryan has been with Jess, a nurse, for four years. He proposed on a trip to Japan, one of Jess’ favorite countries. “I was so nervous, I started crying,” Ryan says about the actual proposal, which happened under a cherry tree. “I hadn’t gotten down on a knee yet, and Jess thought I was telling her that I was sick and that I had some incurable disease.”
Jess said yes, of course. Nan, who passed away this spring, is certainly smiling.