Bob Burnquist has The X (Games) Factor…

The 36-year-old Brazilian skateboarder kicked off the first night of competition at X Games Foz with a thrilling Skateboard Big Air session to become the discipline’s first three-peat champion on Thursday.

Burnquist now has a total of 23 X Games medals, tying him with Shaun White for the second-most in the competition’s history, behind only BMXer Dave Mirra.

“We’ve had these MegaRamp events here and I’ve gotten wins here, but this was unique,” Burnquist said after the victory. “I’m really stoked. And to do it here at home, as the first main X Games, I can’t ask for anything better.”

With one round to go, Burnquist held a slim lead ahead of his competitors thanks to his 20-foot indy 360 with just a few minutes left on the clock.

“I thought I was going to hang up,” said Burnquist, on the trick that thrust him into the second-stage points lead. “But I thought in the middle in my run, ‘If I hang up, I hang up.’ But I landed it. That’s about as scared as I want to be tonight, but I have to go again.”