2023 UCI BMX Freestyle World Cup Review: Montpellier, France. That crowd!

Oct 25, 2023

Written by Bart de Jong

Read 1055 times

UCI BMX Freestyle World Cup winners from China/Australia/Japan/France celebrate in Montpellier in front of the biggest crowd in BMX. The biggest event on the 2023 UCI BMX Freestyle World Cup calendar took place in Montpellier, France. The Festival International des Sports Extreme attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. The multiple sports festival in the city in the South of France hosted the UCI BMX Freestyle Park and Flatland World Cups. For Park it was the second stop on the calendar where the flatland riders met up for the first time in France this year. Due to the huge number of participants, practice started as early as Tuesday with Wednesday schedule for a pre-qualification phase in BMX Park Men. The first cut was made from 110 riders to 72 for the qualification round down to 24 for semifinals. Due to the weather forecast for Sunday it was decided to turn this semifinal into the final round giving 24 riders the chance to shine in front of the thousands of spectators that had come to watch from the banks at the Rives Du Lez.

The first UCI final of four produced amazing riding. The field of play offered many different lines for the riders to choose from with the step down spine and step up ramp along the river being two ramps that were chosen to execute their tricks on. On first sight a jump box was missing on this Park course but the high ramp with transitions on both sides connected to the new tipi ramp turned into a box jump for the braves. High risks were taken on this one but to stand out, you have to ride in a different way and take some risks.

Crowd favorites Paul Thoelen (GER), Tom van den Bogaard (NED) and Kevin Peraza (MEX) bring their own style to the course. They stand out but with the trick level of the competition being so high they might not end on the podium at the end of the run. Jose Cedano (CHL) added double backflips to his runs which had the crowd on their feet but it got real interesting when three-time European Champion Anthony Jeanjean (FRA) and Olympic Champion Logan Martin (AUS) opened their can of tricks towards the end of the Finals. Up until then Aussie Jaie Toohey had been in the lead for a while after sending big tricks like superman backflips, triple whips and bike flips on the FOP. He ended up grabbing 4 th place and was well content with that. America’s Marcus Christopher is a machine and rides with so much speed that he ends up having extra time for more tricks in his 60-second runs. With the Best Run of Two-format Marcus wasn’t afraid to go big with third place being his reward. Logan Martin’s first run scored a 92.00. The bar was set. The Australian loves perfection and the UCI judges did not have much to complain about. When Anthony Jeanjean put in a 91.80 it was Logan Martin who felt the heat and stepped it up even more for run 2. The fist pump at the end showed he was content and Montpellier’s victory was in the pocket. The crowd would have like to see Anthony Jeanjean take the win but finishing second behind the current Olympic BMX Park gold medalists keeps the French hopes up for next year’s Olympic Games in Paris.

Men Park:
1) Logan Martin (AUS)
2) Anthony Jeanjean (FRA)
3) Marcus Christopher (USA)

The week started with 40 Women in UCI BMX Freestyle World Cup Park and after a cut to 24 for the semi, the finals were held with the top 12 qualified riders. Sunday morning’s rain disappeared just in time for the finals to take place. Once again the banks had filled up with fans and formed the biggest crowd in BMX. After the UCI World Cup stop in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia, it was clear that the Chinese delegation of riders were a serious threat. That continued in France with 4 Chinese athletes finishing in the top 7. With here many tricks including truckdrivers and barspins to no-handers Huimin Zhou beat multiple UCI World Champion Hannah Roberts (USA) and took her first UCI World Cup victory. Laury Perez (FRA) got the crowd on their feet with her amazing runs that included a flair, a new trick for the 19 years old rider from France. She made her first UCI World Cup podium on home soil. A moment she’ll never forget.

Women Park:
1) Huimin Zhou (CHN)
2) Hannah Roberts (USA)
3) Laury Perez (FRA)

If there is one event that puts Flatland on the map, it’s the stop in Montpellier. The big stage was surrounded by, again, the biggest crowd in BMX and probably the loudest as well. It created a vibe that gave goosebumps to everyone involved. 2022 UCI Flatland World Champion Aude Cassagne (FRA) showed she is ready to defend her title this summer in Glasgow at the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships. With a score of 82.33 points she clearly left Kirara Nakagawa (JPN) behind her messing with Japan’s dominance in BMX Flatland. Kirara scored a 77.67. It was 2.33 points more than bronze medalist Sakura Kawaguchi who also hails from Japan.

Women Flatland:
1) Aude Cassagne (FRA)
2) Kirara Nakagawa (JPN)
3) Sakura Kawaguchi (JPN)

Victory in Men Flatland was for Japan’s Yu Shoji. The 21 years old flatland sensation left first place qualifier Kio Hayakawa (JPN) behind him who made a little mistake in his run that did not escape the eyes of the judges. Matthias Dandois had the French crowd behind him but it was Jean-William Prevost (CAN) who took third place away and ended up on the well stacked flatland podium. Every flatland finalist brings their own style to the stage which keeps it interesting for the riders, the crowd and the judges alike. In the end the judges decide who performed best and Yu Shoji was over the moon with his first UCI BMX Flatland World Cup victory.

Men Flatland:
1) Yu Shoji (JPN)
2) Kio Hayakawa (JPN)
3) Jean-William Prevost (CAN)