Is China the future of BMX Freestyle? The last stop of the 2023 UCI BMX Freestyle World Cup took place in Bazhong, China. It was a long travel for most but once arrived at the permanent BMX freestyle facility it was clear that the Chinese are serious about the future. The Women park riders have already made their mark on the UCI World Cup circuit but it was the junior riders that impressed everyone. The warm-up section with foam pit and resi section behind the park was used all day by not only the World Cup riders but especially the Juniors. Their energy is endless. Their tricks are up to par with the higher classes. It’s almost scary to think what’s in store for the future of BMX coming out of China.
The last stop of the 2023 UCI BMX Freestyle Park World Cup would decide who would go home with the title for this year. 28 Women signed up trying to make it to the final. With 6 riders from China making it to the final 12 in Bazhong it only confirms their domination. 43 Men entered the Park comp. The permanent ramp set-up was on the small side for them Men and had different transitions than usual but as always, adapting is key. Bigger names not making it out to the semifinal were a.o. Jose Torres Gil (ARG) and Justin Dowell (USA) who both suffered from a flat tire. In the semi-final a cut was made from 24 to 12 and things got wild there. Every single rider has the ability to make it through to the final round but it’s the riding that is done during the run that counts. Little mistakes, blank airs, pedal slips, it gets down to small details for the judges to decide who gets a high enough score to go to the final.
With two 60-second runs each and the best run counting, that job is never easy. Most riders pulled at least one good run. Missing the cut by just 0.1 points was Costa Rica’s Kenneth Tencio who, in his first 8 seconds already did three awesome tricks. The way he starts his runs with a flair drop-in is amazing and takes risk. He kept going till the very end but came up short to make the final. On the bubble also were Alec Danelutti (AUS) and Declan Brooks (GBR). It shows how high the level is these days. A simple cruise to the final does not exist anymore. A few names in Women Park that missed out on riding the final of the World Cup under the roof were Macarena Perez (Chile), the talented Kim Lea Müller (GER) and Queen Saray Villegas (COL). With the Chinese riders upping the level it is getting harder and hard to cut into the top 12 at each stop.
After a grey day during practice on Thursday the sun had come out for the rest of the weekend. The grandstands were full, the big screen showed the replays, the sound was blasting. In short; let the finals begin! Hannah Roberts (USA) was the UCI World Cup ranking leader coming into the last stop. The Chinese riders weren’t going to give it to her for free so the American had to push her personal limit to perform at her best. Hannah ended up on the podium but in between Sibei Sun (CHN) for third and Ya Wen Deng (CHN) for the win. The power that Ya Wen brought to the FOP was strong. She even improved her first run score of 90.10 with a 93.84 which brought the public to their feet. A UCI World Cup win on home territory is one not to forget. Congrats to team China on the results. Hannah Roberts ended up with the 2023 UCI World Cup overall title. It won’t be easy to repeat that for 2024 but time will tell.
Olympic champ Logan Martin had a pretty comfortable lead coming into the last round and when he qualified for the final in 4 th place, his first goal was reached. His direct competitors (Marcus Christopher USA, Anthony Jeanjean FRA, Kieran Reilly GBR and Rimu Nakamura JPN) in the ranking also made it to the finals so it was going to be a good one. When Daniel Dhers (VEN) set the bar with a flawless run that involved his hardest tricks, the bar was set. Marin Rantes (CRO) topped Dhers and took the lead. But heat two in the final brought some more heavy hitters. Anthony Jeanjean, Kieran Reilly and Logan Martin changed leading positions several times which contributed to the show. With extra flips, rotations, tailwhips and barspins the final heated up. Logan brought the forwards bike flip, Kieran pulled a double flair and Jeanjean double backflipped and ended up in 1-2-3 in that order. The results gave Logan Martin the 2023 UCI BMX Freestyle World Cup Overall followed by Reilly and Jeanjean for third.
The 2023 UCI BMX Freestyle overall titles went to:
Men Park: Logan Martin (AUS)
Women Park: Hannah Roberts (USA)
Men Flatland: Yu Shoji (JPN)
Women Flatland: Aude Cassagne (FRA)
BdJ
Photos by Bart de Jong / @fatbmx
Full results
Men Park:
1 Logan MARTIN 30 AUS 1000.00 UCI Ranking points
2 Kieran REILLY 22 GBR 900.00
3 Anthony JEANJEAN 25 FRA 820.00
4 Marin RANTEŠ 28 CRO 770.00
5 Marcus CHRISTOPHER 21 USA 720.00
6 Nick BRUCE 31 USA 670.00
7 Dylan HESSEY 20 GBR 620.00
8 Daniel DHERS 38 VEN 570.00
9 Gustavo BATISTA DE OLIVEIRA 21 BRA 520.00
10 Brian FOX 28 USA 470.00
11 Rimu NAKAMURA 21 JPN 430.00
12 Daniel SANDOVAL 29 USA 390.00
13 Kenneth Fabian TENCIO ESQUIVEL 30 CRC 350.00
14 Alec DANELUTTI 23 AUS 310.00
15 Declan BROOKS 27 GBR 270.00
16 Jeffrey WHALEY 27 CAN 230.00
17 Jacob THIEM 23 USA 200.00
18 Jude JONES 22 GBR 170.00
19 Bryce TRYON 23 USA 140.00
20 Ernests ZEBOLDS 24 LAT 110.00
21 Maxime CHALIFOUR 24 CAN 90.00
22 Joji MIZOGAKI 17 JPN 70.00
23 Kevin PERAZA GARCIA 29 MEX 50.00
24 Istvan CAILLET 31 FRA 40.00
25 Zoltán ÚJVÁRY 23 HUN 30.00
26 Justin DOWELL 23 USA 29.00
27 Levi WEIDMANN 23 NED 28.00
28 Paul THÖLEN 25 GER 27.00
29 Ryan NYQUIST 44 USA 26.00
30 Tianwang WEI 19 CHN 25.00
31 Jose TORRES GIL 28 ARG 24.00
32 Shuotang LIN 19 CHN 23.00
33 Tomass GRINBERGS 26 LAT 22.00
34 Tom CLEMENS 18 GER 21.00
35 Martynas LAGAUSKAS 27 LTU 20.00
36 Caio DE OLIVEIRA SOUSA 30 BRA 19.00
37 Xiaolong SHA 21 CHN 18.00
38 Kaede OZAWA 16 JPN 17.00
39 Kevin FABREGUE 28 FRA 16.00
40 Zoltán KEMPF 27 HUN 15.00
41 Kim YEONHO 21 KOR 14.00
42 Jui Chun KAO 21 TPE 13.00
Women Park:
1 Yawen DENG 18 CHN 1000.00
2 Hannah ROBERTS 22 USA 900.00
3 Sibei SUN 18 CHN 820.00
4 Natalya DIEHM 26 AUS 770.00
5 Iveta MICULYČOVÁ 18 CZE 720.00
6 Zihui FAN 19 CHN 670.00
7 Nikita DUCARROZ 27 SUI 620.00
8 Huimin ZHOU 18 CHN 570.00
9 Charlotte WORTHINGTON 27 GBR 520.00
10 Jiaqi SUN 19 CHN 470.00
11 Honglin XIA 17 CHN 430.00
12 Sarah NICKI 16 AUS 390.00
13 Macarena PEREZ GRASSET 27 CHI 350.00
14 Kim Lea MÜLLER 21 GER 310.00
15 Queen VILLEGAS SERNA 20 COL 270.00
16 Qian ZHENG 20 CHN 230.00
17 Laury PEREZ 20 FRA 200.00
18 Angie MARINO 33 USA 170.00
19 Sasha PARDOE 17 GBR 140.00
20 Analia Gabriela ZACARIAS 34 ARG 110.00
21 Lara Marie LESSMANN 23 GER 90.00
22 Agustina ROTH 22 ARG 70.00
23 Valeriia LIUBIMOVA 19 FRA 50.00
24 Eduarda BORDIGNON 23 BRA 40.00
25 Nene NAITO 17 JPN 30.00
26 Carolina DE SOUZA BITTENCOURT 23 BRA 29.00
27 Cory COFFEY 41 USA 28.00
28 Sinai OH 15 KOR 27.00
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