TONY HAWK: INSPIRATION, BOSS
“The first time I saw Tony’s 900, I was 5 or 6 years old,” Gui says of the trick heard ‘round the world. “I’d just started skating a year or two before, and it blew my mind. Like, ‘Yeah, that’s what I want to do, right there.’”
When Hawk pioneered the 900 at X Games San Francisco 1999, it had taken him more than 10 years to figure out the rotation. Gui first landed the trick at age 8. “Tony would have had an easier time if he’d tried it when he was younger,” Gui says. “It’s way easier when you’re little. It gets harder for me every day now as I’m getting bigger. Puberty is hitting me hard!”
Gui landed a 900 in his rookie X Games appearance at Minneapolis 2019. He weighed a mere 85 pounds and stood just 5 feet, 2 inches tall (at age 10 yrs. 7 mos., the youngest athlete ever to compete at X Games — a record that’s about to be surpassed at X Games Ventura 2024).
He made history at X Games 2021, landing the first 1080 on a vert ramp for Vert Best Trick gold. At 12 years old, he became the youngest champ in X Games history. And it all happened in front of his idol, Tony Hawk. And now Hawk is his boss: Birdhouse Skateboards is Gui’s board sponsor.
Khury has gone on to use variations of the 900 (and 1080) to amass 8 X Games medals, including Vert Best Trick gold at X Games California 2023.
He’s 6 inches taller now than when he debuted at X Games 5 years ago, but he seems to be adjusting to the growth spurt. At X Games Ventura, he’ll be favored to earn his 9th and 10th medals. Doing so would tie skier Kelly Sildaru’s mark for most X Games medals earned by a teenager. Even if Gui comes up short in Ventura, breaking the record seems inevitable.
Photo credit: Brett Wilhelm / X Games
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Colin Bane 