Kawakami, 11, Becomes Youngest X Games Gold Medalist

The youngest male gold medalist in X Games history is 11 years old. Ema Kawakami of Japan won the Men's Skateboard Vert final at MoonPay X Games Chiba 2026 on Friday, ending Gui Khury's run of four consecutive Vert titles.

A run that rewrote the record books

Competing inside Makuhari Messe, Kawakami linked a forward-to-fakie McKenzie Indy 720 straight into a fakie-to-forward Indy 720. No other rider matched that sequence. The run carried him past Khury, who had opened with a 900 and a body varial 900 to post a 92.66 and lead after the first round.

From child prodigy to champion

Kawakami has been collecting firsts since he started spinning 900s at age seven. He became the youngest male X Games competitor at nine in Ventura. He became the youngest male medalist at ten with bronze in Salt Lake City.

In 2024 he became the first person to land three consecutive 900s at Tony Hawk's Vert Alert, with Hawk watching from the ramp. The Chiba gold is the next line in that ledger.

Khury took silver and Tokyo's Moto Shibata landed a mid-run kickflip McTwist for bronze with a 91.33. Neither could close the gap. A four-event streak ended and a new age benchmark now stands.

Kawakami holds a Guinness World Record for the most backside 540s in one minute. His Chiba victory came two years after a last-place finish at the same venue, where he posted a 34.66 as a young invitee.

An 11-year-old atop the Vert podium is not a prediction. It is the present condition of the discipline.