Jayden “Jayo” Archer, a motocross star and former X Games medalist, died Wednesday while practicing a backflip trick in Australia. He was 27.
Archer, a Nitro Circus member and the first rider to perform a triple backflip in competition was practicing the trick in his hometown of Melbourne, Australia, on Wednesday morning. It’s unclear exactly what happened during the incident.
“This really hit home,” Nitro Circus founder Travis Pastrana told ESPN. “Jayo grew up in a time when action sports was at its biggest, and he always wanted to do the big stuff like the double and the triple, even though there weren’t a lot of places to showcase those bigger tricks. He’d get up every morning at 4 a.m. and go to the gym before work so he could ride his dirt bike. When he came to Maryland to train, he stayed at my house and was an incredible role model to my kids. He was a great human first, a hard worker second and a bad motherf***er third.”
Jayden ‘Jayo’ Archer is one of only three dirtbike riders to have successfully executed a triple backflip
Archer is one of only three dirtbike riders to have successfully executed a triple backflip. He was the first to do so in competition, in November 2022, at the Nitro World Games in Australia.
Archer, who has been with Nitro Circus for over a decade, has two X Games medals to his name. He most recently earned a bronze medal at the X Games California last summer.
“No one had a bigger heart or more determination than Jayo,” Nitro Circus executive Ricky Melnik told ESPN. “We called him the Incredible Hulk. He was a beast on the bike and a gentle giant off it. Watching him go through the process of learning and landing the triple flip in competition was so inspiring. He wanted to take FMX to the next level and go further than anyone had gone before.”
