Chinese lap up extreme sports in X Games Shanghai

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China's inaugural summer X Games served up an amazing extreme sports carnival to a weekend audience in Shanghai that was fascinated by heart-stirring performances from world-class players.

Watched by a full house, Nyjah Huston of the U.S. bagged his 10th gold medal in the men's skateboard street, while pink-haired Leticia Bufoni of Brazil won her 5th on the women's side. For the men's skateboard big air, 19-year-old Trey Woods won his first championship at the games.

Nyjah Huston of the U.S., Dashawn Jordan of the U.S and Yuto Horigome of Japan stand on the podium of the men's skateboard street event during the X Games Shanghai, June 2, 2019. /Courtesy of REnextop

Garrett Reynolds of the U.S. won BMX street gold, and the Australian youngster Ryan Williams continued his good luck from Sydney to win the BMX big air.

For the Moto X event, Jackson Strong of Australia won the Best Trick and Tom Pages from France was Best Whip.

Tom Page in action during the Moto X Best Whip event of the X Games Shanghai, June 2, 2019. /Courtesy of REnextop

Tian Jiaxing got the best result of the Chinese participants in the men's skateboard street. Although not reaching the final stage, he ended in 12th place among the 17 candidates in the elimination phase.

Unlike most of the skateboarders who started at a very young age, the 20-year-old Shaanxi native took up the sport just six years ago.

At the early days, there weren't enough good skateboarding venues in Tian's home city Xi'an, so he traveled to Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen to find a better playing environment and friends to hone his skills.

Then, when skateboarding was chosen as a formal event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, Tian was called up by Shaanxi Province team and recently, he was selected to the China national training team.

"I just love playing skateboard and enjoy the process very much," he said.

Rony Gomes of Brazil in action during the men's skateboard big air event of the X Games Shanghai, June 2, 2019. /Courtesy of REnextop

A latecomer but developing fast, extreme sports are now a hot topic on the internet in China.

Some credit must go to Shi Yilong, a vlogger who shares his skating and skateboarding videos on China's social media platforms every now and then. Perhaps he's already beyond the age to compete, but his life is shining with the X sports, as a lot of fans fell in love with these sports because of his wonderful videos.

Cinematographer: Jin Zhaoxuan

Video Editor: Li Chenqi