Los Angeles, CA – Two-time Olympic gold medalist Shaun White took home his fifth straight ESPY for Best Male Action Sport athlete and three time X Games gold medalist Jamie Anderson earned her first ESPY as Best Female Action Sport athlete Wednesday night during the 20th ESPYs awards ceremony held in Los Angeles.
The annual awards recognize the top athletes and performances from the past year and are decided entirely by public voting. White produced the first perfect score when he won the X Games halfpipe last winter with a score of 100 for his fifth straight X Games halfpipe gold. Fellow snowboarder Anderson won her third X Games slopestyle gold medal last season at Aspen, Colo. The sport will make its Olympic debut in 2014 in Sochi, Russia.
Anderson beat out Olympic gold medalist Kelly Clark, Canadian freeskier Kaya Turski and surfer Carissa Moore. Anderson’s 2011-12 season consisted of 10 podiums, including two X Games gold medals and second at the TTR World Snowboarding Championships.
White dominated the 2012 snowboarding season with halfpipe gold at the Aspen and European X Games in addition to a slopestyle gold at Euro X. He beat out surfer Kelly Slater, snowboarder Travis Rice and motocross athlete Ryan Villopoto to take the ESPY.