X Games 16: The 10 Most Amazing Performances from Past Summer X Games

The 16th edition of X Games begins Thursday, July 29th from Los Angeles and there have certainly been several memorable moments in years past that fans will be talking about for years to come.

This slideshow is a compilation of some of those moments, which are sure to be added to when the curtain comes up.

10. Bob Burnquist's Flawless Final Run: 2001

Bob Burnquist turned in a performance for the ages on his third and final run of the 2001 Summer X Games Skateboard Vert finals.

Burnquist successfully completed the following in the same run:
Switch kickflip Indy
Darkside to Fakie
Fakie-to-Fakie 540

On rare occasions do athletes rise to the occasion like Burnquist did in 2001, and the performance certainly marked another notch in the skating history books for Bob Burnquist.

9. Bucky Lasek Gets Record 98.5 Score on Vert at X Games 6: 2000

At the 2000 X Games, Bucky Lasek put on a performance of a lifetime. He nailed nearly every trick of all attempted runs for a final score of 98.5, and a gold medal.

Lasek is another household name in the X Games, and that run most definitely still stands as one of the best X Games feats ever.

8. Mike Metzger Lands Back-To-Back Backflips: 2002

In the same year Hoffman successfully lands a no-handed 900, Mike Metzger pulled off back-to-back backflips.

Showing up his injured friendly rival, Travis Pastrana, Metzger captured BMX Gold while stunning the Philadelphia audience with two sky-facers in a row.

7. Shaun White's First Summer X Games Gold: 2007

Shaun White is undoubtedly one of the most legendary performers in X Games history. White is the owner of several X Games medals in both the Summer X Games as a skateboarder, and winter games as a snowboarder.

In 2007, White's three runs were the best by far, and the result was his first-ever Summer X Games Gold.

6. Travis Pastrana Scores 99 at the Age of 15: 1999

At the tender teenage age of 15, Travis Pastrana took the X Games world by storm by winning his first-ever Gold medal in the Moto X event.

He scored a near-perfect 99 and celebrated the score with a victory lap that ended in the San Francisco Bay, completely out of the venue.

5. Ryan Sheckler Becomes Youngest to Win X Games Gold: 2003

While prodegies such as Travis Pastrana and Shaun White dominate the X Games scene, neither can say they were the youngest to X Games Gold.

Ryan Sheckler cemented his name in the walk of X Games fame with his perfomance at X Games nine in 2003, going balls-to-the-wall before the youngster's balls had even dropped.

4. Dave Mirra Completes BMX Double Backflip: May 2000

While folklore has it the double backflip was completed in Europe four years earlier, Mirra solidified its place in X Games legend in May of 2000 in the BMX competition in San Francisco to capture his eleventh X Games gold.

3. Mat Hoffman Lands the No-Handed 900: 2002

Perhaps the best non-gold-medal-winning move in X Games history, Mat Hoffman successfully pulled off a no-handed 900 in his second run of the 2002 BMX competition.

Hoffman pulled off the trick while competing against BMX legend Dave Mirra, who captured the Gold. However, it was Hoffman's leg-buster 900 that stole the show.

2. Travis Pastrana Double Backflip on Motorcycle: August 2006

During the 2006 Summer X Games, Travis Pastrana performed a trick he swore he'd never do in competition: The double backflip. It was a trick never before accomplished in Moto Freestyle.

Pastrana is a participant in several X Games competitions, including the Freestyle, Motocross and Rally car racing.

1. Tony Hawk's 900: July 27, 1999

Tony Hawk, arguably the best skater of all time, completed the first ever 900 (two-and-a-half rotations) after ten failed attempts on July 27, 1999.

The trick propelled Hawk into legendary status from which he has developed a skating brand, a video game, and several other endorsements.

Because this trick perhaps put X Games on the global map, it earns the top spot in this countdown.