FATBMX Your Online BMX News Resource Since 1998

National coach Martijn Jaspers has announced the selection for the BMX World Championship, which will be held in Nantes, France, from 29 to 31 July. Jaspers has opted for a selection of athletes who are all expected to be able to force a place in the final. For defending champion and Olympic champion Niek Kimmann, the World Cup in France is his first big goal for the new year, after he skipped the first World Cup competitions to start the global title fight completely fresh. Jaspers: ''With Niek we have an important asset in our ranks. We are in construction with the rest of the men's group. Of the Olympic group we worked with for Tokyo, only Niek and Dave van der Burg are left. But the other men selected are certainly showing progress and could potentially also reach a final spot. And I always say that whoever is in the final can, in principle, also finish on the podium.”

For the women, the bar can be raised even higher. ''We have had the world top for some time with Laura and Merel Smulders and also Judy Baauw. Manon Veenstra has also been added. Merel returns after an injury, but recently reached the final in the World Cup at Papendal. We have three riders in the top 5 of the World Cup standings, which says enough about the opportunities we have in this category." . “In the junior men, Jaymo Brink and Jason Noordam, we have two athletes who can really compete for the podium, and we also have several strong contenders in the U23 and junior women. That also provides perspective for the coming years.”

The BMX track in Nantes is unknown territory to anyone. Jaspers: ''This will be constructed especially

The BMX scene is both vibrant and widespread, with races taking place across the globe. From the Dutch National Championships in Uithoorn to The Greatest Race On Earth in Tulsa, Oklahoma, riders are climbing on their bikes and competing, keeping the humble BMX in the public eye. Garrett Reynolds, Mat Hoffman, and Jamie Bestwick have helped raise the sport's profile globally, but could harnessing new digital technology take BMX racing even further? One method sports teams in other sectors or leveraging are fan tokens. These are digital assets backed by cryptocurrency, which have a real-world value. They're tradeable, meaning they could be seen as an investment, but they also deliver tangible benefits to the holder.

After the 2022 UCI BMX Freestyle Park World Cups in Montpellier, France and Brussels, Belgium the standings look as follows with one stop to go in Australia in December. Will Logan Martin be able to climb on top after stop 3? Will we see more UCI World Cup Ranking changes after the stop on the Gold Coast 9-11 December 2022?

Current UCI BMX Freestyle Park World Cup standings:

1 JEANJEAN ANTHONY FRA 1820
2 MARTIN LOGAN AUS 1800
3 CHRISTOPHER MARCUS USA 1490
4 FOX BRIAN USA 1240
5 BRUCE NICK USA 1160
6 TORRES GIL JOSE ARG 1090
7 TENCIO ESQUIVEL KENNETH FABIAN CRC 1090
8 BROOKS DECLAN GBR 1070
9 JONES JAMES GBR 1060
10 DOWELL JUSTIN USA 1050
11 NAKAMURA RIMU JPN 1000

Name: Emil Filmby
Age: 34
Hometown: Örebro, Sweden
Occupation: Documentary filmmaker

A BMX bike isn't made for long distance cycling trips. You are riding your BMX bike from Sweden to Spain starting on Saturday. How was this idea born?
Emil Filmby: Well basically I’ve had this idea for a long time, riding from my hometown Örebro, Sweden

Well well Canada look at that! Niels Bensink qualified for the Red Bull UCI Pump Track World Championships in Belgium on his BMX and now he has done it in Langford on his MTB. He took the top spot in qualifying rounds, setting the fastest times all day long with a winning time of 18.885. Always nice to make a bit of history. Second placed rider Ryan Gilchrist from Australia on a borrowed bike and a garbage bag for a rain jacket earned the ticket to Chile (with Niels already travelling after his win in Belgium) his fastest time of the day in the Finals on 18.994.

In the Women's category, both newcomers to the series saw a battle between BMX riders Molly Simpsonn and Teigen Pascual at the very wet Jordie Lunn bike park (seems Niels takes the rain with him). Molly secured her place in Santiago with the fastest time of the day in 21.429 against Teigen's 22.069

Results

Women:

Paris, Texas! That was HOT, both in temperature and racing! A fierce battle between Shealen Reno and former UCI World Champ Payton Ridenour ensued all day long with Reno one upping every time that Ridenour laid down with Shealen would take the top qualifying place.

The Big Final had both those riders in one final showdown. By the halfway mark it was too close to tell who was in the lead but the second half of the lap showed Payton super focussed and mistake free and the win and that ticket went to Ridenour by just .205 of a second.

The men's class had an immediate favorite in Alec Bobster who placed second to Tommy Zula at the first USA Qualifier in Gaston County, NC. The field of challengers were deep though and this wouldn't come without some hard work from Alec. The 2021 finals came down to Alec Bob and Andersen Amakye and once again they would qualify one and two in the timed runs.

In the Big Finals Amakye faced Alec in a repeat battle from 2021 for the top spot and the amazing