CANTON, Ohio — Marcus Christopher has been on two wheels for nearly as long as he can remember. Riding has been a passion of his from a young age and, over the years, has developed into major success in the action sports scene, including a wealth of medals and podium appearances, Olympic competition, and, most recently, selection in the first-ever X Games League draft.
"So I started on a little dirt bike when I was like three years old. My parents didn't want me doing that, so my dad showed me BMX racing. So I got into that, did that for six years, and then slowly transitioned into freestyle after seeing it on TV, like the X Games. Started doing freestyle and now I'm here," Christopher said.
The Hartville native began posting highlight videos of some of his runs at local spots like Ray's Indoor Bike Park.
His tricks were impressive, but the backflip tailwhip he landed as a pre-teen made a name for Christopher, and over the years, his presence in the BMX world has only grown.
"These past few years have really changed in my BMX journey. I started doing contests all around the world, X Games, the World Cups, and took me to the Olympics and took me to X Games. We got a lot of medals now, so I'm really happy," he said.
Christopher puts in the work, training nearly every day on the massive bike ramps installed in his backyard.
That work has earned the 23-year-old plenty of accolades.
Three X Games bronze medals, two silver medals, and a gold medal are just some of the hardware in Christopher's trophy case. He also owns a silver World Championship medal and took first place on the podium at the FISE UCI World Cup.
But last month, Christopher joined an exclusive group of action sports athletes set to compete in a brand-new X Games experience—the X Games League.
The league has regional clubs with athletes from all around the world competing in them.
The rosters are made up of men and women from different sports who compete against each other at various stops, earning points for their club that determine who advances to the championship this July.
The new league began building its rosters in March, and 40 athletes were selected in the first-ever X Games League draft. Among them was Christopher.
"We really had no idea who was going to get picked or whatnot, so I was just hoping to get picked and then watching the draft that night to hear my name was pretty amazing," Christopher said. "I was on a dirt bike trip down in West Virginia, and I was watching the live stream on my phone by the campfire and I hear my name get called and I was like 'I got picked, I can't believe it!'"
The X Games League summer season ramps up on June 26 in Sacramento and will be followed by two other stops, one in Japan and then the league championship in New Orleans. Christopher plans to bring his A game to the competition this summer.
"My style of riding is, I'd say, big and powerful with heavy-hitting tricks. I like going fast, hitting big transfers, and I've done pretty well at the most recent X Games park competition, so I hope to bring some medals to the team," he said.
But beyond the new team aspect Christopher will get to compete in at the inaugural season of the X Games League, he's got one goal for himself in 2026: to have fun.
"So for this year, my goals are basically to podium as many contests as possible, win as many contests as possible, and bring as many medals to the team as I can for the year end goal of our team winning and have fun while doing it," he said.
