Athlete Profile

Brady Baker: Readies For Encore At X Games Ventura

By Nicole Dreon

Baker Readies For Encore At X Games Ventura

Ever leave your homework behind because you had sports on the brain? As a kid, Brady Baker spent every morning before school ensuring his BMX equipment was in his backpack. “I forgot my textbooks a lot,” he says with a laugh, “but I always squeezed in my pads.”

On bus rides home, Brady, now 21, says he didn’t want to waste a minute, “So I would pad up on the bus. Then I’d run and hop in mom’s car, and she would drop me off at the indoor park.” He would arrive right when it opened and stay until close.

That kind of dedication paid off at X Games California 2023. As a relatively unknown XG rookie, Baker surprised in BMX Dirt, taking the top spot in the Elimination against an extremely accomplished field. He topped that in the Final, staying cool under pressure and scoring gold with the very last run of the contest.

But given Brady’s background and work ethic, maybe it shouldn’t have been such a surprise.

BMX Hotbed...In Jersey?!

The Baker brothers -- Brady, the oldest, Beau and Blake -- grew up in Toms River, New Jersey. Brady raced BMX bikes early on, but he transitioned to freestyle when he began visiting the Incline Club Skatepark in nearby Lakewood, New Jersey. The legendary spot was owned at the time by 9-time X Games medalist Scotty Cranmer and his family. Brady has fond memories of Cranmer helping him when he was kid.

“Scotty noticed me and started working on stuff with me,” remembers Brady. “I was doing barspins the wrong way, and Scotty made it a point to teach me the right way. He was like, ‘I’m traveling this week, but I want you to be able to barspin the right way when I come back.’”

And Cranmer wasn’t the only high-profile BMX pro from the area: 15-time X Games champ Garrett Reynolds graduated from Brady’s school, Toms River High, 12 years before Baker. “My high school teachers used to ask if I knew him,” Brady says. “At that point, there was X Games and Dew Tour and Garrett was winning all that stuff. He definitely made an impact on Toms River.”

A Star Is Born

Now it’s Baker’s turn to make an impact. His family moved to Colfax, California, in 2021 when his dad, Alex, was transferred for work. It was a boon for Brady’s burgeoning BMX career; it gave him the chance to ride at school shows all over California. But there wasn’t much attention -- or money -- in those shows and Baker was couch surfing at almost every stop, trying to make a living.

His hard work paid off when he won the final stop of the BMX Triple Challenge series in spring 2023. That performance helped earn a first X Games invite, which Baker says fulfilled a lifelong dream. It kept getting better. Finishing first in the Dirt Elimination afforded him the luxury of going last in the run order for the Final. Ryan Williams took the lead in Run 2, with Baker in 2nd. That made for a nerve-wracking Run 3, but Baker remained calm.

“It was just the weirdest feeling being up there [on the start deck] with all these people I’ve looked up to forever,” Brady says about the comp’s final passes. “I watched R-Willy [Williams] drop in. I watched Logan Martin drop [Martin moved into 2nd, bumping Baker down to 3rd], and I watched Dawid Godziek drop.”

Then it was his turn. Brady’s entire family was in the crowd and Cranmer was the broadcast analyst. The Jersey boys were in the house. As he readied for the final run of the contest, Brady knew he was guaranteed at least a bronze. “That kind of just took all the pressure away,” he says. “I was like, ‘Wow, I’m getting an X Games medal no matter what; this is crazy. I’m gonna just go for it.”

And he did. Brady upped the ante, ending his run with the world’s first Cashroll downside whip and edging Williams for gold. He became the third rookie in history to win X Games Dirt, after Colton Walker (2017) and Stephen Murray (2001).

What’s Next?

Brady could make history again at X Games Ventura 2024. He’s scheduled to compete in Dirt, Dirt Best Trick and Park Best Trick, and he’s aiming for multiple medals. Only five BMX riders have earned three medals at a single X Games, with two of them -- Kevin Peraza and R-Willy -- doing it at XG California 2023. Only three athletes in history have earned three gold at one XG; Travis Pastrana was the last to do it in 2006.

“I’d like to medal in every discipline that I’m in,” Baker says. “But mostly, I want to be a good role model for the sport, just like how Scotty and Garrett and all those other pros were for me.”

He’s well on his way. Not bad for a guy whose Instagram handle reads, “Just a kid from Jersey.”

Brady Baker Bio Blast