2021 Olympic Champion and 2021 UCI BMX Racing Elite World Champion. Anyone who would have said that in January of 2021 would have been sent off to the clinic. But Bethany Shriever (GBR) did it and had the best year ever. But 2022 has arrived and it's back to racing. After several months of Olympic status celebration it was back to training hard. Beth fills you in on how she prepared for the new season. Sounds like she's ready.
Name: Bethany Shriever
Age: 22
Hometown: Essex, Great Britain
New Team, new motivation. That's how it works sometimes. Ross Cullen has announced today that he will be riding for the TVE / JEE-O team, a professional team based out of The Netherlands and will be team mates with the Smulders sisters. Although everything on the new bike has changed except for a few parts, the feeling on the new ride is great. 2022 can become the breakthrough year for Ross in Elite. He's well prepared.
Name: Ross Cullen
Age: 20
Hometown: Preston - UK
Sponsors: TVE / JEE-O, Renthal, Outskill the risk, Proyouth Nutrition, Madison UK / Shimano UK, KSC Motors, Fuse Protection / Moore Large
Did 2021 turn out the way you wanted?
Ross Cullen: 2021 was a good year of racing full of good and bad performances but by far my favourite yet!
Name: ROMAIN MAYET
Sponsors: SPAD BMX, NOLOGO, DIGTRACKS, BERINGER, AIM, MONKEY’S SAUCE, MICHELIN, GFORM, OGIO, HT, SPECIALIZED, RENNEN, SPORT RAD DISTRIBUTION
How long have you been running your own BMX brand now?
Romain Mayet: Since September 2016. I created SPAD when I was injured (broken foot). I got time to develop the frame from the conception to the final product.
What can you tell us about your new parts brand?
Romain Mayet: 1 year after I launched SPAD, I wanted to create the AIM BMX products brand, everything was ready. At the same time, I got the opportunity to get sponsored by Pride Racing Parts, so I chose to focus more on my carreer as an athlete rather than spending time to develop another brand.
Can you explain how it works to get a new product made? Your new stem for instance?
Romain Mayet: First of all, you need to think about what customers need. Since 2016, I’m selling frames and customers are always asking where they can buy the parts to build their bike. For the stem I got into contact with many manufactures, I send them my own stem design, I got samples,
In 2021 a new class was introduced, the U23 class. The success of it lead to the class being implemented at all BMX races listed on the UCI calendar. Rising star of the U23 class in 2021 was non other than Mongoose's Asuma Nakai. He was the man to beat and won the World Cup overall title but missed out on the World Championship victory. Still young enough to enter the U23 in 2022 we can't wait to see what Asuma will bring. Hopefully some of them insane whips too (see FATBMX Insta post of 31 January). As far as preparation is concerned, see below.
Name: Asuma Nakai
Age: 21
Hometown: Joetsu, Japan
Sponsors: Mongoose/Xlarge/Motocross International/Oakley/FoxRacing/Shimano/Tioga/Ikon/StanceSocks/WesternRiver/flexdream/CW-X/OgawaRingyo
Did 2021 turn out the way you wanted?
Asuma Nakai: Of course It wasn’t perfect, but really good. I couldn’t achieve my biggest goal of my life which is competing at Tokyo Olympic. Even though Japan has already selected the rider in February 2020, it was held in 2021 so that was a disappointment. But overall, it was really good because I won the first ever U23 UCI World Cup series title. That was special to me.
The Olympic cycle starts all over again this year. It's only 3 years now till Paris 2024 and preparation has started already. Australia's Izaac Kennedy has Paris in mind, and he will be there this time. But that means dedication to the training program, eating healthy and running the correct bike with the best bike parts. Read on to see what Izaac has in store for us this year.
Name: Izaac Kennedy
Age: 21
Hometown: Gold Coast, Australia
Sponsors: Speedco, LUXBMX, Knobby, Vans
Did 2021 turn out the way you wanted?
Izaac Kennedy: Well no it didn’t go how I wanted it to with dealing with an injury and not being selected for the Olympics but overall, it was still a solid year. I made the final at the UCI World's, a few USABMX podiums, finished the year off with another National title and got to travel the world racing my bike so still a lot positives to take from it.
Blue Ridge Nationals. Friday 28 January 2022. VA Horse Center - Lexington, VA
Pro Open results:
1) PATRICK COO 19 1 BELLFLOWER CA VELOCITY BIKE CO 16160667 562 NC
2) JONNIE VANCE 24 2 BALTIMORE MD SUPERCROSSBMX 16233320 30 NAT
3) CAMERON BRAMER 20 3 SOUTH PARK PA 18690164 456 NC
4) VICTOR BEHM 28 4 MAYSLANDING NJ 18410105 145 NC
NILE WILSON RODE A BMX AND JUMPED HOW HIGH?! by Olympic BMX Champion Beth Shriever.
Setting new goals for the new year is something most of us do. How can you better yourself? Is my training on point or is there someone out there who can teach me more? Is my equipment on point? Do I need to focus on Pumptracks? How do I do on the 8 meter hill? Where is the room for improvement? Mongoose's Payton ‘P-Nut’ Ridenour has tasted what Elite Racing is like and is now building on being stronger in 2022.
Name: Payton ‘P-Nut’ Ridenour
Age: 19
Hometown: Pottstown, Pennsylvania, USA
Sponsors: Mongoose, FLY, Shimano, WD-40, EVS, USA BMX Foundation, ODI, Tioga, E6, Onyx, Answer, Oakley, Socksmith, Potter Racing, HRP Designs.
Did 2021 turn out the way you wanted?
Payton Ridenour: The 2021 season definitely turned out the way I wanted! My coach Arielle Martin-Verhaaren and I set some big goals at the beginning of the season. My main focus was to qualify for the
Being a BMX veteran doesn't mean you do not have to prepare for the upcoming season. Elke Vanhoof has been around for many years and her 2022 training has already started. How can you better yourself? Is the training schedule on point? Has the carbon bike arrived yet? Will it make a difference? Do I need to focus on Pumptracks? How do I do on the 8 meter hill? Elke explains in the interview below.
Name: Elke Vanhoof
Age: 30
Setting new goals for the new year is something most of us do. How can you better yourself? Is my training on point or is there someone out there who can teach me more? Is my equipment on point? Do I need a fresh start at a new company? Today we're checking in with Sylvain André, W3 in 2019, W2 in 2021 and his sights set on the W1 plate at this year's UCI BMX Racing World Championships in Nantes, France.
Name: ANDRE
Age: 29
Hometown: Cavaillon, South Of France
Sponsors: Commencal, Armée de champions. Michelin, DIG Tracks, 6D helmets, Five Gloves, Tangent , HT Pedals, Beauty Sané
Did 2021 turn out the way you wanted?
Sylvain André: Yes and no. I was hoping for a little better at the Olympics. Even if 2nd at the World's sounds (and is) amazing, I would be down to re race that lap and try to tbone Niek [Kimmann] somewhere. French champion, 2nd at the World's and 4th at the Olympics, I am not going to complain; at all.
With the start of the new year, are you always looking to become a faster racer?
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.