Gui Khury: Grateful For Tony Hawk…And Grandma

...to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Tony Hawk’s original 900 in style: by bringing a world-first kickflip body varial 900 to Vert Best Trick.

“He’s inspired me so much,” the 15-year-old Brazilian says of Hawk. But you know to whom he attributes much of his success? Vovó Leo, his grandma in Brazil.

Viva Vovó e Bisa (Long Live Grandma and Great Grandmother)

In addition to the mentoring and sponsorship from Hawk, Gui credits his accomplishments to the support of his family, especially his Vovó (Portuguese for grandma), Leonore Khury.

In 2015, Leonore allowed a private vert ramp to be built on her sprawling rural property in Curitiba, in southern Brazil, and Greenbox Sk8 was born. Gui lives there with Vovó Leo, his parents Ricardo and Bianca, his sister Rafaela and his Bisa (great grandmother), Luiza Khury.

Vovó Leo’s approval a decade ago is also part of the reason you’ll see another skater from Curitiba at X Games Ventura 2024: Augusto Akio, a childhood friend of Gui’s, whom he regards “like a brother.” They stop by to thank the matriarch of Curitiba’s skate scene every chance they get.

“After a skate session we usually come over to her house and she gives us soup, then we’ll end up chatting with her all night,” Gui says. But you won’t catch Vovó Leo in the crowd at X Games. “She watches me on TV, but she says she’s too scared to watch me skate in person.”

“The first time I saw Tony’s 900, I was 5 or 6 years old,” Gui says of the trick heard ‘round the world. “I’d just started skating a year or two before, and it blew my mind. Like, ‘Yeah, that’s what I want to do, right there.’”

When Hawk pioneered the 900 at X Games San Francisco 1999, it had taken him more than 10 years to figure out the rotation. Gui first landed the trick at age 8. “Tony would have had an easier time if he’d tried it when he was younger,” Gui says. “It’s way easier when you’re little. It gets harder for me every day now as I’m getting bigger. Puberty is hitting me hard!”

Gui landed a 900 in his rookie X Games appearance at Minneapolis 2019. He weighed a mere 85 pounds and stood just 5 feet, 2 inches tall (at age 10 yrs. 7 mos., the youngest athlete ever to compete at X Games -- a record that’s about to be surpassed at X Games Ventura 2024).

He made history at X Games 2021, landing the first 1080 on a vert ramp for Vert Best Trick gold. At 12 years old, he became the youngest champ in X Games history. And it all happened in front of his idol, Tony Hawk. And now Hawk is his boss: Birdhouse Skateboards is Gui’s board sponsor.

Khury has gone on to use variations of the 900 (and 1080) to amass 8 X Games medals, including Vert Best Trick gold at X Games California 2023.

He’s 6 inches taller now than when he debuted at X Games 5 years ago, but he seems to be adjusting to the growth spurt. At X Games Ventura, he’ll be favored to earn his 9th and 10th medals. Doing so would tie skier Kelly Sildaru’s mark for most X Games medals earned by a teenager. Even if Gui comes up short in Ventura, breaking the record seems inevitable.

In addition to grandma and Tony Hawk, Gui also credits one of his primary competitors for his skateboarding success: “Jimmy Wilkins was my first skate coach when he worked at the YMCA in Encinitas,” Gui says. The Khury family lived in Carlsbad, California, from 2011-2015, and Gui’s dad started taking him to skate at the Y when he was 4.

Wilkins won his first X Games gold at XG Austin 2014, a year after he started coaching Gui. “I was 5 years old telling Jimmy, ‘That’s going to be me some day,’” Gui says. Khury thinks he can win a third Vert Best Trick gold at XG Ventura 2024, but he believes Wilkins still has the edge in Vert, where he’s a 7-time X Games champ.

“Jimmy’s on a whole other level that’s just crazy,” says Gui, who owns two Vert medals of his own. “I still need to get a little bit better to beat him, but he’s not offering as many coaching tips these days.”

Gui isn’t the only person aiming to write a new chapter in the 900 history books. When Arisa Trew became the first woman to land a 720 at Tony Hawk’s Vert Alert event in 2023, Gui was the first to sprint over and hug her. Now that Arisa has stomped a 900, he’s ready to celebrate with her again, this time at X Games.

“It’s all a mental battle,” Gui says. “Arisa is persistent and she knows how to adjust as she goes, and that’s all it takes.”

Gui says if he can stomp the kickflip body varial 900 early in the contest, as he did with the judo 900 last year, he’ll try for even more: “I’m excited because there’s still a lot of possibilities for the 900 that haven’t been explored at all. I think we’re going to see a lot of historic firsts at X Games this year.”