- Monster Energy Team Claims A Total of 23 Medals (Seven Gold, Seven Silver, Nine Bronze) at First Championship Event of Inaugural MoonPay X Games League (XGL)
- Men’s Skateboard Vert: 26-Year-Old Tom Schaar from Malibu, California, Takes Gold Medal, Also Earns Gold in Skateboard Park Best Trick and Men’s Skateboard Park in Record Performance
- Women’s Skateboard Vert: 15-Year-Old Mizuho Hasegawa from Ibaraki, Japan, Takes Gold Medal, Sets New Record for Most Female Athlete Summer X Games Medals at 13 Medals, Claims XGL MVP
- BMX Park Best Trick: 32-Year-Old Ryan Williams from Australia Claims Gold Medal
- BMX Dirt: Monster Energy Riders Sweep Podium with Brady Baker Taking Gold, Mike Varga Silver and Ryan Williams Bronze
- Women’s BMX Park: 16-Year-Old Miharu Ozawa from Gifu, Japan, Claims 3 rd Consecutive Gold Medal and Unveils New Trick
NEW ORLEANS, July 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The first XGL Championship season is a wrap! Monster Energy congratulates its team of action sports athletes on a strong performance on the final day of X Games New Orleans 2026.
During three days of live competitions inside legendary Caesars Superdome, the world-class team claimed a total of 23 X Games medals (seven gold, seven silver, nine bronze) and brought the heat with trick innovations and new medal records. Visit monsterenergy.com for exclusive content and highlights.
From July 24–26, MoonPay X Games New Orleans 2026 marked the first championship event of the new Moonpay X Games League (XGL) 2026 Summer Season. Supported by Monster Energy as an X Games League Founding Partner, XGL is the world’s first year-round, team-based, co-ed league in action sports, where city-based clubs and individual athletes rack up points across the season for a shot at the championship.
Standouts included 26-year-old Tom Schaar from Malibu, California, clinching gold medals in three disciplines: Skateboard Park, Skateboard Vert and Skateboard Park Best Trick to make history as the first rider to earn three gold medals at a single X Games since Moto X rider Travis Pastrana in 2006. The Dave Mirra BMX Park Best Trick saw 32-year-old Ryan Williams from Sunshine Coast, Australia, unleash a unique trick creation to claim the gold medal. The team swept the entire BMX Dirt podium with 23-year-old Brady Baker from Toms River, New Jersey, claiming the gold medal, 29-year-old Mike Varga from Oshawa, Canada, in silver medal position, and Williams taking bronze.
In Women’s BMX Park, 16-year-old Miharu Ozawa from Gifu, Japan, claimed her third consecutive gold medal in the discipline. The Women’s Skateboard Vert event saw 15-year-old Mizuho Hasegawa from Ibaraki, Japan, take the gold medal in a down-to-the-wire final. Also claiming silver and bronze medals at New Orleans, Hasegawa set the record as the most decorated female athlete in Summer X Games history at 13 medals.
After X Games League (XGL) competitions in Sacramento, California, and Chiba City, Japan, the season finale in New Orleans concluded with the crowning of official X Games League (XGL) Champions: Taking the trophy for XGL League MVP, Monster Energy’s Hasegawa topped individual athlete rankings with 680 points after a breakout season. In city-based team rankings, XC New York took the win and $500,000 in prize money at the last second with 2680 points on the strength of crucial points from a fourth-place finish by Daniel Sandoval in Men’s BMX Park.
Here’s how team Monster Energy Unleashed the Beast at X Games New Orleans 2026:
The first day of MoonPay X Games New Orleans 2026 kicked off Friday with Monster Energy BMX Street on the multi-level obstacle course inside the Superdome: Battling back from ankle injuries, 30-year-old Boyd Hilder from Gold Coast, Australia, took the bronze medal with a stacked run concluding in a massive feeble to Smith to barspin off the drop from the roof for 90.00 points. Hilder now owns three X Games medals (one gold, one silver, one bronze).
Next, the New Orleans crowd witnessed a spectacular showcase of dirt bike airs in the Moto X Best Whip event: After claiming gold at X Games Sacramento 2026, 30-year-old Julien Vanstippen from Ophain, Belgium, walked away with the bronze medal in the Big Easy to cap off a successful 2026 XGL season. Vanstippen now owns eight X Games medals (three gold, two silver, three bronze). Still podium-perfect, he has never missed an X Games Best Whip podium in seven appearances in the discipline.
The team’s first win of the weekend came in Women’s Skateboard Vert, where Mizuho Hasegawa clinched the gold medal on her final attempt for a come-from-behind victory where she stitched together technical 540 variations, backside 360 varial Weddle, and Cab backside 540 on the last wall for 93.80 points. Also rising to the podium, 19-year-old Asahi Kaihara from Osaka, Japan, secured the bronze medal on her second run with a technical line featuring frontside body varial benihana, kickflip Indy, and alley-oop frontside disaster for 83.40 points.
Closing out Day 1 with a bang, the Monster Energy Men’s Skateboard Street Best Trick event ended on a technical note as rising star 16-year-old Julian Agliardi from Long Beach, California, landed a rare technical banger on the street course’s round handrail: A perfectly stomped frontside feeble grind kickflip out catapulted Agliardi to the bronze medal. Agliardi now owns two X Games bronze medals.
Saturday kicked off with more medals in Women’s Skateboard Vert Best Trick. In the 20-minute contest judged on the single best trick, Kaihara unveiled a boundary-pushing trick to claim silver: Her perfect switch front foot impossible tailgrab, riding opposite-footed and spinning the board around her leading foot, earned second place. Kaihara now owns six X Games medals (two silver, four bronze). Also bringing the stoke, Hasegawa stomped a technical alley-oop body varial 540 for the bronze medal.
Next, the story of the day unfolded in Dave Mirra BMX Park Best Trick with Ryan Williams bringing the house down with a signature trick for the win: A perfectly landed alley-oop frontflip 540 flair, known as the “Oliver Twist,” caused the Superdome crowd to erupt with cheers and earned Williams his second gold medal of the 2026 XGL season. And he was far from done!
The Men’s Skateboard Vert Best Trick final came with a redemption story: Tom Schaar spent all season battling for his first-ever Best Trick medal, and he earned it with a bang! A flawless alley-oop kickflip backside lipslide revert earned Schaar the silver medal in the heated trick battle. And he had more opportunities to earn medals in the Big Easy! Also rising to the podium, Monster Army rider JD Sanchez from Pleasanton, California, put down a unique varial double kickflip Indy 540 for the bronze medal. Sanchez now owns five X Games medals (three silver, two bronze).
Progressive tricks remained the focus in Monster Energy Men’s Skateboard Street, where a young Monster Energy rider earned his first-ever podium: Rising to the challenge, 24-year-old Toa Sasaki from Mie, Japan, stomped a perfect run featuring a huge backside 360 ollie the pyramid to flat and Caballerial backside noseblunt slide fakie the rail for 90.00 points and the silver medal. Let’s go!
“Legendary” does not come close to describing the BMX Dirt final on Saturday: In a heavy showdown, the team swept the entire podium with Brady Baker claiming the gold medal with a dominant performance and a final run composed of signature trick creations for 96.00 points. Baker made history as the first BMX athlete to claim four gold medals in BMX Dirt. Closely behind Baker, Mike Varga claimed silver with a run concluding in 720 double whip for 93.00 points. Varga now owns seven X Games medals (four gold, one silver, two bronze). Rounding out the podium sweep, Williams clinched bronze with a stacked run featuring a frontflip kickless tailwhip for 92.00 points. Williams now owns 18 X Games medals (14 gold, three silver, one bronze).
The iconic X Games moments continued in Men’s Skateboard Park, with Tom Schaar clinching the gold medal. Covering the entire park with video part-worthy tricks such as frontside 360 stalefish the center and blindside kickflip Indy fakie the channel earned Schaar 93.80 points and the win. Also rising to the Skateboard Park podium, 15-year-old Monster Army recruit Egoitz Bijueska from Bilbao, Spain, capped off a successful debut XGL season with the bronze medal after already earning silver at Sacramento and gold at Chiba. Bijueska now owns 3 X Games medals (one gold, one silver, one bronze) after a breakout debut XGL season!
The final day of X Games New Orleans unfolded on a high note with Miharu Ozawa claiming her third consecutive gold medal in Women’s BMX Park, a threepeat feat unmatched since BMX icon Dave Mirra’s five-straight BMX Park golds between 1996 and 2000. After trailing on Run 1, Ozawa landed a flawless final run featuring backflip barspin, double barspin, and a never-been-done-in-women’s-competition triple truckdriver (360 triple barspin) for 94.20 points and the win. Ozawa now owns three X Games gold medals. Also earning a podium spot, 24-year-old Kim Lea Mueller from Remscheid, Germany, held the top spot after Run 1 and walked away with the silver medal on the strength of a stacked line featuring a 360 can-can tire grab and superman seat grab Indy for 88.80 points. Mueller now owns four X Games medals (one silver, three bronze).
Next, the Men’s Skateboard Vert final saw Schaar drop in fresh off Saturday night’s Men’s Skateboard Park gold and clinch victory on his first run. Stringing together an alley-oop backside 540 melon into backside 540 tailgrab, fakie 720 tailgrab, kickflip body varial McTwist, and a mind-boggling blunt kickflip on the final wall earned Schaar 93.40 points and first place, a perfect setup for his final event of the weekend.
The high-energy New Orleans crowd witnessed history in Women’s Skateboard Park when Mizuho Hasegawa claimed the silver medal to set a new record as the most decorated female athlete in Summer X Games history with 13 medals. After losing the handle on her first run, she took over the lead on Run 2 with a perfect line featuring backside 360 the box, Lien tailslide the channel, frontside tailslide over the spine, backside 540 over the channel, and 50-50 stall pull-in the vert extension for 86.40 points. Hasegawa now owns 13 X Games medals (three gold, nine silver, one bronze) as the most decorated female athlete at Summer X Games. She also claimed the title of League MVP of the 2026 XGL Season with 680 points.
Making history in a new showcase event at X Games, Schaar clinched the win in the first-ever Men’s Skateboard Park Best Trick with a walk-off victory: As the final rider to drop in, Schaar landed a frontside bluntslide kickflip to fakie over the channel to win this brand-new competition. After claiming three gold medals and one silver in New Orleans, Schaar now owns 24 X Games medals (seven gold, six silver, eleven bronze) and became the first rider to earn three gold medals at a single X Games since Moto X rider Travis Pastrana accomplished the feat in 2006. Schaar also finished his X Games League season with the second-highest score on MVP rankings at 620 points. It gets no better than this!
Rounding out a milestone-heavy weekend, the BMX Dirt Best Trick final erupted into next-level territory when Brady Baker claimed the silver medal with a signature move on his last attempt: After sitting in the bronze medal position, Baker unleashed his signature Twister tailwhip to storm into second place. Baker now owns eight X Games medals (four gold, four silver). Also rising to the podium, Monster Army rider Kaden Stone from Lake Elsinore, California, stomped a perfect 1440-degree aerial, spinning four full rotations through the air for the bronze medal. Stone also claimed silver in BMX Dirt Best Trick at X Games Sacramento 2026 and now owns three X Games medals (two silver, one bronze).
And that’s a wrap! Congrats again to the Monster Energy team on claiming a total of 23 X Games medals (seven gold, seven silver, nine bronze). During the entire XGL 2026 Summer Season, the team clinched 58 total medals across three stops (Sacramento: 24 medals, Chiba: 11 medals, New Orleans: 23 medals). Way to bring the heat!
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Day 1 Video Highlights
Day 2 Video Highlights
Day 3 Video Highlights
Missed the action? No worries, you can watch all event replays from X Games New Orleans 2026 and the entire X Games League summer season on the official X Games YouTube page.
Visit www.monsterenergy.com for exclusive content and highlights from X Games New Orleans 2026, including photos, videos, and contest results. Follow Monster Energy on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, X, and TikTok.
For interview or photo requests, contact Kim Dresser.
About Monster Energy
Based in Corona, California, Monster Energy is the leading marketer of energy drinks and alternative beverages. Refusing to acknowledge the traditional, Monster Energy supports the scene and sport. Whether motocross, off-road, NASCAR, MMA, BMX, surf, snowboard, ski, skateboard, or the rock-and-roll lifestyle, Monster Energy is a brand that believes in authenticity and the core of what its athletes and musicians represent. More than a drink, it’s the way of life lived by athletes, bands, believers, and fans. See more about Monster Energy, including all of its drinks, at www.monsterenergy.com.
CONTACT: Kim Dresser C: (949) 300-5546 E: kim.dresser@indiepragency.com
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