Eli Tomac Wins Best Athlete, Men’s Action Sports ESPY
Earlier this month, Feld Entertainment announced Eli Tomac was nominated for the 2022 ESPY Award in the Best Athlete, Men’s Action Sports category. The 2022 Monster Energy AMA Supercross 450SX Champion claimed seven 450SX main event wins in his first season with Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing en route to his second premier class AMA Supercross title.
The release stated Tomac was the third AMA Supercross athlete nominated for an ESPY award, following Cooper Webb’s nomination in 2021 and Ryan Dungey’s nominations in both 2015 and 2016. Webb did not receive the award in 2021, but Dungey did receive the Best Athlete, Men’s Actions Sports category in both years he was nominated.
| Position | Rider | Hometown | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Eli Tomac | Cortez, CO  | 359 |
| 2 |  Jason Anderson | Edgewood, NM | 350 |
| 3 |  Malcolm Stewart | Haines City, FL | 314 |
| 4 |  Marvin Musquin | La Reole, France  | 305 |
| 5 |  Justin Barcia | Monroe, NY | 302 |
And last night, Tomac received the award!
Congrats to @EliTomac, winner of the @ESPN@ESPYS Best Athlete, Men’s Action Sports! #ESPYS2022#ESPYS@SupercrossLIVE@StarRacingYampic.twitter.com/lfNUlXKiZQ
— YamahaMotorUSA (@YamahaMotorUSA) July 21, 2022
Tomac posted a video to his Instagram this afternoon thanking fans for voting for him.
“Hey everyone! I just wanted to say thank you for voting for me in the ESPN ESPY Male Action Sports Category. We won it! Thank you to all of the supercross fans around the world. We had an incredible 2022 season. None of this would be possible without the support of my family, my team, the crew, everyone involved. As you know, motor sports it’s hard enough to just make it to the starting lines so to clinch the championship this year was so special for everyone involved. And I feel like this year was a great comeback year for myself as a rider and as an athlete, and I’m enjoying it more than ever. So once again, thank you and we’ll see you in 2023!”
Below is his full post and video:
“We did it! We won the @espn male action sports ESPY! Thank you to all the supercross fans around the world for making this possible! 🏆”
Tomac currently sits on a hot streak in the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship with seven straight moto wins, four straight overall wins, and now the 450 Class points lead as he looks to become the first rider to earn both the 450SX AMA Supercross title and the 450 Class AMA Motocross title in the same year since Dungey did the feat in 2015.
Through seven rounds of Pro Motocross, Tomac leads Honda HRC’s Chase Sexton by five points with lots of racing still to go.
