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.
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.