NIKITA DUCARROZ NOW RIDES WITH TSG

Jan 16, 2024

Written by Bart de Jong

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TSG is head over heels to announce a match made in heaven, as they welcome BMX mistress of tricks and all-round amazing Ms Nikita Ducarroz to the Global Team. Team riders at the core to what we do at TSG, not only because we love keeping these amazing tricksters safe while sending at their best, but also because when our team rocks TSG gear with style, humility, and grace, they validate everything that we do. That’s why we are over the moon to announce the addition of Swiss American BMX star Nikita Ducarroz to our Global Team roster.

Nikita is not only an Olympic Bronze medallist and winner of a treasure trove of other accolades,

including silver medals at the 21’ and 22’ Worlds and the European Champs, she is also a champion of mental health awareness in action sports, thanks to her grassroots initiative MindTricks. “Nikita is a fantastic role model for young people,” says our very own Nadja Herger-Bondarenko. “As well as being an extremely talented athlete, she is also super approachable and talks openly about topics like mental health, which are not necessarily at the forefront of freestyle action sports. And that’s why we are so happy to welcome her to the team.”

Suffering from teenage anxiety and depression and unable to cope with the demands of her first passion sport, football, Nikita was told by her mum at 14 that she could only give it booting a ball about if she found another sport. That’s when BMXing landed in her life: “I started by just riding my bike around the local walking trails, until one day I discovered BMX on YouTube. That was it, I was hooked.” Nikita saved up for a proper BMX bike and started riding in her driveway until she mustered the guts to get down to the local skatepark. As well as freedom and a license to have fun she found as a big-hearted community that shared her passion for little trick bikes, but also had a generous supportive spirit that made none of the demands that a team sport like football. “I felt so free because I could just be there, no one was counting on me but myself and there were no rules etc,” she remembers with glee. “I found a place that I could work on myself to be less anxious and riding also taught me how to keep pushing for something, through the process of trying and learning new tricks." And Nikita says that she was able to take that mindset into life and working through her anxiety.

Nikita’s first-hand experience with depression and anxiety also inspired her to set up a grassroots initiative, MindTricks, whose aim it is to help others tackle their own struggles with mental health by normalize the conversation around it. “If someone is suffering in silence, and maybe reads one of our posts they’ll realise that it can affect anyone, even “perfect” professional athletes, and that it’s OK,” she states. “It is not a weakness to speak out and ask for help.”

With a bronze in the bag from 2020 and in full training mode at DDASC, in North Carolina Nikita now has her sights set on a podium at the Paris Games this year. “I met Nikita right after the Olympic Games in Tokyo, when she stopped by our headquarters in Zurich, with Daniel Wedemeijer,” says Nadja Herger-Bondarenko. “Her empathy, calmness and enthusiasm inspired me from the very first second I met her, and we are proud that Nikita has chosen TSG as her safety gear partner”.

Nikita will be rockin’ TSG’s super light Ivy and Sentinel helmets, TSG Knee-Shin Temper A 2.0 pads and Crash pants A while spinning the hell out of her Mongoose and in her own words is, “So happy to be riding for TSG as they have such an extensive range of amazing and insanely comfortable protective gear and helmets for every occasion.”

Welcome to the team Nikita and here’s to winning more precious metal in the City of Love!