(StraightNews.org) – An Australian motocross champion has died at the age of just 27. Jayden “Jayo” Archer, the first person ever to complete a triple backflip during a competition, died while practicing the move near his home in Melbourne. He was one of only three riders ever to complete the backflip and the only one to perform it in an active contest. A member of the Nitro Circus, a sports media brand founded by Travis Pastrana, Archer was famous in his field for pushing freestyle motocross to new levels.
Mr. Pastrana told ESPN that Archer “always wanted to do the big stuff like the double and the triple” and was deeply committed to his sport. Pastrana welcomed Archer to his home in Maryland to help him train and said he was a “great human” and role model to his children.
Ricky Melnik, senior vice president and GM of Nitro Circus described Archer as “the Incredible Hulk” because he was a “beast on the bike and a gentle giant off it.”
The Melbourne native first performed the triple back flip at the Nitro World Games in Brisbane, Australia, in 2022. Friends say he planned to go even further and perfect a quadruple flip. Immediately after achieving his history-making triple, Archer proposed to long-term girlfriend Beth King, and the couple planned to marry later this year. The biker described King as his best friend and partner in crime and wrote on Instagram how lucky he was to have found her.
Having made Motocross history in 2022, Mr. Archer said he could not describe the feeling, and ten years of life had built up to that moment. “There were a lot of obstacles and broken bones and knockouts, and I would do it 100 times over to relive that moment again,” he said.
During a triple backflip, a rider speeds onto a ramp and accelerates into the air, where he spins the bike three times before landing.
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