FATBMX Your Online BMX News Resource Since 1998

When you end the season on a high note, it's easier to go into the winter training program to get ready for the next year. United States' Kamren Larsen has made the national team multiple times at the big international races and plans on getting picked again in 2022. His goals are to progress as a racer and to do everything possible to get get out of that 80% group of fast riders to make mains and podiums. We checked in with Kamren and here's his plan.

Name: Kamren Larsen
Age: 22
Hometown: Bakersfield, California, USA

Mitchel Schotman is in the South of France currently preparing for the 2022 season. Mitchel has made the switch from the Oegema-Fieten team to the Dutch National BMX squad. He's the 2021 Elite Men champ, 2nd in Europe, 6th in the World. Add new motivation and you will see a fast racer line up in 2022. Read about his goals in the interview below.

Name: Mitchel Schotman
Age: 25
Hometown: Wesepe, Netherlands
Team: National BMX team Netherlands

Did 2021 turn out the way you wanted?
Mitchel Schotman: Yes and no, because the UCI BMX World Cup in Verona was one of my worst WC ever. Didn’t get any good result there and never felt so shit after a race. But after Verona I had my best season ever so far! Dutch champ, 2nd of Europe and one of the best days of the year were the UCI BMX Racing World Championships at Papendal, 6th of the world. Riding my first World's as an elite and then of course my first final was great, but riding a final in front of the home crowd makes it so much better.

With the start of the new year, are you always looking to become a faster racer?
Mitchel Schotman: I always try to become faster every year and we chanced a bit in training.

Stepping into the Elite racing world is not an easy task. The boys are fast! HARO's Anthony Bucardo has found out. Getting injured during the process of getting competitive isn't ideal, but Yungshibby is back and willing to work his ass off to battle up front. It's a step by step process as usual. See how Anthony Bucardo prepared for 2022.

Name: Anthony Bucardo
Age: 23
Hometown: San Diego, USA
Sponsors: Haro, Fly, Restorative cbd, Tangent, Duo brand, Team C, Ryno power, Bombshell rims.

2021 UEC European BMX Elite Champion and current leader of the UCI ranking Arthur Pilard had a great year but staying on the top is harder than getting there some say. With a new bike, the loss of the mental coach and many athletes trying to take his leading position, 2022 is not going to be an easy cruise for the Frenchman. Arthur is prepared for what's to come. Check his 2022 prep interview below.

Name: PILARD Arthur
Age: 26 years old
City of origin: SQY, France
Sponsors: INSPYRE / PRIDE RACING / SAINT-BRIEUC BMX / SPORT RAD DISTRIBUTION / GFORM / XFORCE / VEE TIRE / OGIO / BACQUER / AU FIL DES ROUTES

Did 2021 turn out as you wished?
Arthur Pilard: Yes, even better! I had an incredible 2021 season, I learned a lot during this year.

With the beginning of the new year, are you still looking to become a faster rider?
Arthur Pilard: This year with my coach we will try new things, work on my faults and do some races.

Name: Cameron Wood
Age: 20
Hometown: Bozeman, MT, USA
Sponsors: Mongoose/ USABMX Foundation/ Troy Lee Designs/ Promax/ Box

Did 2021 turn out the way you wanted?
Cameron Wood: “Yes and no. 2021 was my first full race season as a pro, so I did a lot of growing. I met a lot of goals and also failed to reach others. Aside from results, I made sure I learned something and took something away from every race that helped me improve. I truly believe that a full year has helped me grow mentally and physically and I'll be a better racer for it moving forward.”

With the start of the new year, are you always looking to become a faster racer?
Cameron Wood: “Yes. At the highest level of sport you can expect everybody to have the same answer.”

Have you picked your races for 2022 yet?
Cameron Wood: “The USABMX circuit will be a priority again. As well as some UCI World Cups and the UCI World Championships. I would love to do some more international racing this year.”

What did you change on your bike for 2022?

Setting new goals for the new year is something most of us do. How can you better yourself? Is it possible to make that Elite main or podium? Is my training on point or is there someone out there who can teach me more? How's my diet? Should I switch to a carbon bike? Australian Josh McLean prefers the American lifestyle to get ready for the 2022 season doing it once again for Team FullTilt. Read on what his plans are and how Josh prepared for the upcoming BMX races.

Name: Joshua McLean
Age: 23
Hometown: Gold Coast, Australia

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!

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.