To make it to the BMX freestyle Park program at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris is not an easy task. Only 12 Men and 12 Women will be able to participate on the Olympic stage which will be built up at the Place de La Concorde in the summer of 2024. The Olympic Qualifying process has been announced and the points chase for quota places for Continental Championships and World Championships has started already. The more points the top two riders of a nation gather, the more riders (of that nation) will be able to participate at the bigger events in 2023/2024. Time has started for the top two riders to move their country up in the nation ranking. Throwing C1 events is a way for federations to offer their local riders an event that they can attend without having to travel far. At the BMX Open in Rotterdam on 4 September the Dutch Park riders showed up as well as a big delegation from Hungary, a German, and a rider from Slovakia.
The level of riding these days is insane. Double whips, barspin backflips, and truckdrivers have almost become 'filler tricks'. It's key to stand out from the pack by going higher, doing transfers no one else is doing, bring tricks that nobody else can do and pack as many of them in a 60 second run without making any mistakes using the entire course. Place #11 could have won an event only a few years ago but the level keeps going up making it hard for the riders to stay on top of things. At the end of the day it was Tom van den Bogaard (NED) who grabbed the 200 UCI ranking points at Skateland in front of #2 Zoltan Ujvary (HUN) and #3, youngster Tom Clemens (GER).
What started in 1987 as a street jam was continued at the Sugar Hills trails with the focus on riding dirt. In fact we did three street jams in Aarle-Rixtel before moving to De Valkendijk where the dirt spot has seen annual action for over 32 years now. Is the FATJAM the longest running annual BMX jam in the world? This past Saturday 3 September called for another one. The process remains the same; pick a date, make a flyer, tell people about the jam, and wait and see who turns up.
For the 2022 edition we added a 40-years EK Beek & Donk reunion. The Milky Way Open European Championships happened 40 years ago on our local BMX track in Beek & Donk a few miles from Aarle-Rixtel. If you wanted to talk oldskool BMX, the FATJAM was the place. Gerrit and Mieke Does, and Pieter Does made it to the jam early and first international visitor in 1982 Thomas Fritscher (GER) found his way back to Aarle-Rixtel as well. Former BMX photographer Christ Verhoeven and his son Gert showed up and contributed to the old stories as did Ans Vereijken, Tiny van Brug, André Duijmelink, Jan, Leo and Diny Leenders, Richard Waldt and Johan de Leeuw. Names who probably don't mean much to current BMX riders but were there when BMX was shaped. With 1982 EK Beek & Donk buttons and Milky Ways on the table the old stories came back instantly.
Add Frits van der Linden on the BBQ and a JBL producing songs and you'll get the idea where things were going with some cool Bavaria's being opened from time to time....
More than 200 riders registered, huge crowds of spectators and bright sun set up the way to enjoy Le Havre of this last weekend of summer 2022. As the biggest of the season, this last stop was served with a 5 disciplines contest. On 3 fields of play, the city gathered Yadea BMX and Roller Freestyle Park, Skateboard and Scooter Bowl as well as BMX Flatland riders to wrap the season. Pro, Amateur, Women and Young talents were going big, with the Coupe de France FFC for BMX Flatland and Yadea BMX Freestyle Park, as well as a UCI C1 certification for the last one. As in the iconic Le Havre's Bowl, on the massive Yadea Freestyle Park ramps or on the Flatland Area, crowds were on fire to support international riders and local rising champions.
Latvian National BMX Park Championships Liepaja, Latvia 27 - 28 August 2022
Men Park:
1 Tomass GRINBERGS 25 LAT 1 200.00 UCI ranking points
2 Kalvis LAZDINS 31 LAT 2 160.00
3 Rlafs ROZENBLUMS 16 LAT 3 130.00
4 Lauris ATMATS 20 LAT 4 110.00
5 Kristians SPONS 16 LAT 5 90.00
6 Guntis ATMATS 26 LAT 6 70.00
7 Arturs VIRDZINIEKS 18 LAT 7 50.00
8 Davis KRAUZE 22 LAT 8 30.00
C1 Park and Flatland results Le Havre, France
Men Flatland:
1 Joris BRETAGNOLLES 33 FRA 200.00 UCI Ranking points
2 Anatole RAHAIN 24 FRA 160.00
3 Alexandre JUMELIN 45 FRA 130.00
4 Julien BARAN 17 FRA 110.00
5 Raphael CHIQUET 38 FRA 90.00
6 Fülöp VIDÁKOVICH 26 HUN 70.00
Women Flatland:
1 Mélissa DROLL 15 FRA 200.00 UCI Ranking points
Results C1 BMX Park contest, French cup - BOS Sérignan Sérignan, France. 20 Aug - 21 Aug 2022
Elite Women:
1 Laury PEREZ 19 FRA 200.00 UCI Ranking points
2 Kim Lea MÜLLER 20 GER 160.00
3 Lisa Marie BLANC 18 FRA 130.00
4 Julie PLOUSEY 20 FRA 110.00
5 Anaelle GIRARD 14 FRA 0.00
Elite Men:
1 Anthony JEANJEAN 24 FRA 200.00 UCI ranking Points
2 Luca BERTRAND 20 FRA 160.00
3 Juan Camilo CAICEDO HURTADO 20 COL 130.00
4 Zoltán ÚJVÁRY 22 HUN 110.00
Last weekend, the FISE Xperience Series bring action sports vibes in a new destination, Thonon-les-Bains. Located on the benchs of Leman Lake's benches, it hosted two Parks specially set up on Place de Crète, to welcome BMX, Roller, Skateboard and Scooter competitions in front of crowds of spectators. As in Reims earlier in the season, if the title of winner of the FISE Xperience Thonon-les-Bains 2022 is at stake for the sports represented, the BMX Freestyle Park was also certified Coupe de France FFC and C1 by the UCI, which allow to get point counting for the world ranking.
This opportunity attracted the Triple European Champion Anthony Jeanjean, as well as Laury Perez to get Gold at this stop! To support BMX Freestyle Park athletes, a massive crowd gathered all around