The Best Male Action Sports Athlete ESPY Award is an annual award honoring the achievements of a male athlete from the world of action sports. It was first awarded as part of the ESPY Awards in 2004 after the non-gender-specific Best Action Sports Athlete ESPY Award was presented the previous two years (with American snowboarder Shaun White receiving the 2003 award). The Best Male Action Sports Athlete ESPY Award trophy, created by sculptor Lawrence Nowlan, is presented to the male adjudged to be the best action sports athlete in a given calendar year. Balloting for the award is undertaken by fans over the Internet from between three and five choices selected by the ESPN Select Nominating Committee, which is composed of a panel of experts. It is conferred in July to reflect performance and achievement over the preceding twelve months.

The inaugural winner of the Best Male Action Sports Athlete ESPY Award at the 2004 awards was freestyle BMX rider Ryan Nyquist. During 1997 and 2003, Nyquist won eleven out of eighteen available freestyle BMX medals at the X Games. He became the first freestyle BMX rider to be nominated for, and thus the first to win, an ESPY Award. The 2006 winner of the Best Male Action Sports Athlete ESPY Award was Shaun White. He was nominated a further five consecutive times between the 2008 and 2012 ceremonies, all of which he won, making him the athlete with the most victories with six. The two other athletes to have earned successive awards are street skateboarder Nyjah Huston and motocross rider Ryan Dungey. Canadian snowboarder Mark McMorris became the first non-American to win the accolade in 2017 by earning three medals at that year's X Games in Minneapolis. Snowboarders are the most successful sportspeople with seven awards, followed by motocross riders, with four, and street skateboarders, with three. It was not awarded in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The most recent winner of the award was American Motocross and Supercross racer Eli Tomac in 2022.

Winners and nominees

Best Male Action Sports Athlete ESPY Award winners and nominees

Year	Image	Athlete	Nationality	Sport(s) regularly contested	Nominees	Refs
2004	–	Ryan Nyquist	United States	Freestyle BMX (park and dirt jumping)	Brian Deegan ( USA) – Freestyle motocross Bucky Lasek ( USA) – Skateboarding Chad Reed ( AUS) – Motocross/Supercross
2005		Dave Mirra	United States	Freestyle BMX (street, park, and vert)	Ricky Carmichael ( USA) – Motocross Andy Irons ( USA) – Surfing Bucky Lasek ( USA) – Skateboarding
2006		Shaun White	United States	Snowboarding (half-pipe)	Jamie Bestwick ( GBR) – BMX Ricky Carmichael ( USA) – Motocross Kelly Slater ( USA) – Surfing Jeremy Stenberg ( USA) – Freestyle motocross
2007		Travis Pastrana	United States	Motocross/rallying	Ricky Carmichael ( USA) – Motocross Kelly Slater ( USA) – Surfing Danny Way ( USA) – Skateboarding Andreas Wiig ( NOR) – Snowboarding
2008		Shaun White	United States	Snowboarding (half-pipe, slopestyle), Skateboarding (vert)	Kevin Pearce ( USA) – Snowboarding Chad Reed ( AUS) – Supercross Kevin Robinson ( USA) – BMX
2009		Shaun White	United States	Snowboarding (half-pipe, slopestyle), Skateboarding (vert)	Ryan Sheckler ( USA) – Skateboarding Kelly Slater ( USA) – Surfing James Stewart Jr. ( USA) – Motocross
2010		Shaun White	United States	Snowboarding (half-pipe, slopestyle), Skateboarding (vert)	Bobby Brown ( USA) – Freeriding Ryan Dungey ( USA) – Motocross Mick Fanning ( AUS) – Surfing Garrett Reynolds ( USA) – Freestyle BMX
2011		Shaun White	United States	Snowboarding (half-pipe, slopestyle), Skateboarding (vert)	Tucker Hibbert ( USA) – Snowmobiling Travis Pastrana ( USA) – Motocross Kevin Rolland ( FRA) – Freestyle skiing Kelly Slater ( USA) – Surfing
2012		Shaun White	United States	Snowboarding (half-pipe, slopestyle), Skateboarding (vert)	Travis Rice ( USA) – Snowboarding Kelly Slater ( USA) – Surfing Ryan Villopoto ( USA) – Motocross
2013		Nyjah Huston	United States	Street skateboarding	Pedro Barros ( BRA) – Skateboarding Mark McMorris ( CAN) – Snowboarding Ryan Villopoto ( USA) – Motocross
2014	–	Nyjah Huston	United States	Street skateboarding	Grant Baker ( RSA) – Surfing Tucker Hibbert ( USA) – Snowmobiling Ryan Villopoto ( USA) – Motocross David Wise ( USA) – Freestyle skiing
2015	–	Ryan Dungey	United States	Motocross	Tucker Hibbert ( USA) – Snowmobiling Nyjah Huston ( USA) – Street skateboarding Mark McMorris ( CAN) – Snowboarding Josh Sheehan ( AUS) – Freestyle motocross
2016	–	Ryan Dungey	United States	Motocross	Pedro Barros ( BRA) – Skateboarding Nyjah Huston ( USA) – Skateboarding Gus Kenworthy ( USA) – Freestyle skiing Mark McMorris ( CAN) – Snowboarding
2017		Mark McMorris	Canada	Snowboarding	Øystein Bråten ( NOR) – Freestyle skiing John John Florence ( USA) – Surfing Nyjah Huston ( USA) – Skateboarding
2018	–	David Wise	United States	Freestyle skier	Henrik Harlaut ( SWE) – Freestyle skiing Kelvin Hoefler ( BRA) – Skateboarding Marcus Kleveland ( NOR) – Snowboarding
2019	–	Nyjah Huston	United States	Street skateboarding	Scotty James ( AUS) – Snowboarding Gabriel Medina ( BRA) – Surfing Tom Pagès ( FRA) – Freestyle motocross
2020	Not awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021		Gabriel Medina	Brazil	Surfing	Marcus Kleveland ( NOR) – Snowboarding Yūto Totsuka ( JPN) – Snowboarding Cooper Webb ( USA) – Motocross/Supercross
2022		Eli Tomac	United States	Motocross/Supercross	Alex Hall ( USA) – Skiing Yuto Horigome ( JPN) – Skateboarding Ayumu Hirano ( JPN) – Snowboarding

See also

• Best Female Action Sports Athlete ESPY Award
• Laureus World Sports Award for Action Sportsperson of the Year