Jayo Archer, a daredevil Australian motorcyclist who was the first to land a triple backflip in a freestyle motocross competition, died in an accident on Wednesday while he was practicing in Melbourne.
ESPN, which founded the X Games, the extreme sport event at which Archer, 27, was a bronze medalist last year, reported that he was practicing the triple backflip when he died.
At the Nitro World Games in Brisbane, Australia, in October 2022, Archer rode up a steep ramp and flipped his motorcycle backward once, twice and then a third time. When he landed safely, he had done something no one else had done before. He was mobbed by well-wishers, and then climbed to the top of the ramp to exult before the crowd.
“Honestly, I cannot describe this feeling,” he said. “This is so much more than a competition or a trick to me. I’ve dedicated my whole life for the last three years to doing this, this moment right now. I’ve had a lot of obstacles, a lot of broken bones, a lot of knockouts. But I tell you that I would do it a hundred times over to relive that again.”
The feat was all the more amazing because the first double backflip was landed only in 2006, by Travis Pastrana.
Archer then proposed to his girlfriend, Beth King, in front of the television cameras. They were planning to marry later this year.
Archer, whose full given name was Jayden, worked as a mechanic for a racing team in addition to his motorcycle riding, according to his X Games biography.
“Ripping in this morning!” Archer wrote on Instagram earlier this month. “I’m stoked to be able to control and slow down the triples. Training for a sick event that’s just around the corner.”
“We’re going to triple flip it first jump, first jump of the day,” he says in a video accompanying the post. He then successfully pulls off the trick.
Scott Guglielmino, the interim chief operating officer at the X Games, called Archer “one of the most committed and charismatic FMX riders,” using the abbreviation for freestyle motocross.
Nitro Circus, the team Archer rode for, said in a statement: “Jayo was the epitome of passion, hard work and determination. He pushed what was possible on a dirt bike to heights never seen before.”
