Though there are variations, vert ramps typically look like the letter “U,” with steep walls and a smooth composite surface. The most common X Games Vert ramp in recent years is 60 feet wide and has walls with an 11-foot, 8-inch radius, including two feet of pure vert at the top.

Athletes traverse back and forth across the ramp, pumping to gain speed and throwing aerial tricks above the ramp’s “deck” or performing tech tricks on the ramp’s coping, where the vert wall and deck meet.

The most famous moment in the history of action sports occurred on a vert ramp, when Tony Hawk landed skateboarding’s first 900 at X Games 1999. Vert currently is enjoying a resurgence, as a slew of young stars -- especially young women -- bring renewed energy to the discipline. The X Games Vert format is a jam session: athletes receive as many 30-second runs as possible within the total time allowed. At X Games Ventura 2024, the jam session length is expected to be 36 minutes. The athlete’s single best full run counts as their final score.

Street is the most popular skateboard discipline, by far. Street contests approximate the most common form of real-world skateboarding, utilizing obstacles common to urban settings -- like handrails, stairs, ledges, benches and outdoor tables -- on a purpose-built course.

Competitors do an assortment of grinds, board flips, Ollies, flat ground tricks and more on the course. X Games Skateboard Street results are determined by the score of an athlete’s single best 45-second run. Riders typically receive three-to-four runs in an X Games Street comp.

Skateboard Street is always one of the most-viewed X Games contests on YouTube; the X Games Japan 2023 Men’s SKB Street contest has surpassed 1 million views. Street skaters like 13-time X Games gold medalist Nyjah Huston and teen sensation and two-time X Games women’s champ Rayssa Leal are among the most-followed athletes on social media (5.2 million Instagram followers and 11.3 million followers combined on Instagram and TikTok, respectively).

Born from rhythmic trails riding, BMX Dirt competitions date back decades. In fact, Dirt was one of just two BMX disciplines contested at the first X Games in 1995. (Legend Jay Miron took gold in Dirt’s XG debut.)

While X Games BMX Dirt still appreciates the sort of style and soulful riding seen on the trails, the discipline now features some of the biggest, most creative tricks in action sports -- high risk, high reward moves from crossover stars like Ryan Williams. At X Games California 2023, several first-in-competition BMX moves were witnessed in Dirt Best Trick, including Kaden Stone’s 1440.

The X Games Dirt course is never the same, changing in size and flow from year-to-year. The course usually features between four and six jumps, and the 2023 version took 1,800 cubic yards of dirt and seven days to build. Riders start from a raised platform that gives them the speed necessary to negotiate the course. The jump takeoff lips typically are eight to 11 feet high. Riders perform their tricks over gaps that vary from 14 to 30 feet long, and they must land perfectly or they won’t have the momentum needed for the next jump.

At X Games, each rider in the Dirt final receives three runs. Athletes are scored on each run, with their single best pass counting as their score.

BMX Street contests approximate the most common form of urban BMX riding, utilizing obstacles common to city settings -- like handrails, stairs, ledges, benches and outdoor tables -- on a purpose-built course.

Competitors do an assortment of grinds, tailwhips, rotations, gap-to-obstacle tricks and more on the course. One of the most successful athletes in X Games history has dominated BMX Street since the discipline debuted at X Games Los Angeles 2008: Garrett Reynolds owns 15 XG gold, tied with Shaun White for the most in wins in X Games history.