Ryan Williams (BMX rider)
Australian extreme sports and social media figure
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ryan Williams (born 22 June 1994), known as R-Willy, is an Australian freestyle scooter and BMX rider. He performs with the Nitro Circus, and has a large online following on YouTube and Instagram.
Early life
Ryan Williams grew up on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia, the son of a former top-rated female BMX racer.[1][2] At the age of 7, he saw the 2001 X Games documentary Ultimate X,[2] after which he began rollerblading,[3] and then picked up scootering in 2006 at age 12 at his local skatepark in Caloundra,[2] followed by BMX at age 15.[citation needed]
Career
In 2012, after a video of his scooter tricks went viral, Williams joined the Nitro Circus team,[4] aged 17 and in his final year of secondary school.[5] He continues to perform with the Nitro Circus, signing a one million dollar three-year contract in 2016.[4]
Prolific in social media and known as a YouTuber, Williams had 356,000 Instagram followers and 757,000 YouTube subscribers by 2017;[5] the latter number had grown to 1.85 million by 2023.[6] Between June 2008 and October 2022, his YouTube channel published 563 videos for a rate of a video every 11 days on average.[7]
In his career, he has achieved a total of 9 gold medals in scooter and BMX events at the Nitro World Games and the X Games and a silver medal in each.[8]
Like most extreme sports athletes, Williams has suffered serious injuries, though perhaps not as severe as many of his peers given the risk involved in the tricks he attempts. He has dislocated both shoulders, broken an ankle and an arm, knocked out teeth, and suffered several skull fractures.[2]
World's First Tricks
Williams has performed over twelve "world first" maneuvers in both BMX and freestyle scootering.
| Year | Type | Trick | Description/Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Scooter | Scooter Loop[9] | Riding out of a loop ramp |
| 2014 | Scooter | Free Willy[10] | Rider backflip with nothing front scooter flip |
| 2015 | BMX | 1440˚[11] | 4 full rotations |
| 720˚ Double Frontflip[11] | 2 full rotations with 2 frontflips | ||
| Nothing Front Bike Flip[12] | Full bike flip with stationary rider | ||
| Triple Frontflip[13] | 3 frontflips | ||
| Scooter | 360˚ Nothing Front Scooter Flip[11] | Rider performs 1 full rotation while scooter separately completes a front flip | |
| 720˚ Tailwhip to Barspin[11] | 2 full rotations with a tailwhip followed by a barspin | ||
| Triple FSF Frontflip[11] | Frontflip while executing 3 front scooter flips | ||
| 2016 | Scooter | 1440˚ Front Flip[11] | 4 full rotations with one frontflip |
| 2017 | BMX | Triple Tailwhip Frontflip[11] | Three tailwhips during a frontflip |
| 2018 | BMX | Front Bike Flip Tuck No-Hander[14] | Full bike flip with stationary rider followed by no hands on the bars |
| 2019 | BMX | Double Cork 1440˚[15] | 2 off-angle twists with 4 full rotations |
| Frontflip Barspin Seat Grab[16] | Frontflip while holding the seat and spinning the bars once | ||
| 2021 | BMX | Special Twist[17] | One-handed rider backflip with stationary bike |
| 2022 | BMX | Fakie Backflip[18] | Backflip on a quarter pipe while riding backwards |
| Frontflip Windshield Wiper[19] | Frontflip while rotating the bike halfway around the bars, then back without touching | ||
| Scooter | Frontflip Nothing FSF to Barspin[20] | Frontflip while throwing the scooter into its own frontflip with a late barspin | |
| Cork 1800˚[20] | 5 full rotations with a "corkscrew" front flip | ||
| 2024 | Scooter | 360˚ Triple Backflip[21] | 1 full rotation combined with 3 backflips |
| BMX | Triple Tailwhip Double Backflip[22] | 2 full rotations with a triple tailwhip |
R-Willy Land
In 2019, Williams purchased 40-acres of land in Eudlo near the Sunshine Coast to build a large action sports facility, which he named "R-Willy Land".[23] This facility, the first of its kind in Australia, features a 13-foot mega ramp used by athletes to train for the Nitro Circus tour and other events, having been the host of scooter rider qualifications for the Nitro World Games 2022.[24] Future plans for the property include action sports camps and clinics run as "a mixture of Woodward and Pastranaland."[25] Williams' father lives on and maintains the property, having earned the nickname of "Groundskeeper Willy," and shaped the majority of the run-in to the megaramp as well as caring for the mango orchard that was on-site when the property was purchased.[26]
