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34 Men and 11 Women registered for the 2021 Red Bull UCI Pump Track World Championships qualifier in Brussels, Belgium. Riders from Belgium, Netherlands, Latvia, France, Switzerland were racing the newly built Velosolutions pump track for a spot at the upcoming World Champs in Lisbon, Portugal. There was a fairly even split across BMX and MTB and a few Freestyle riders joined the fun. Aiko Gommers was absolutely unstoppable in a stacked Women's category, unbeatable in every single round saw her secure her World Final ticket with her best time of the day in at 11.622 with Olympian Elke Vanhoof taking home 2nd spot on the podium in the Women class.

In the Men's category, a small mistake saw top qualifier Mateo Colsenet take a fall in top 16, leaving Latvian rider Kristaps Veksa to take home his World Final ticket after his third place in the German Qualifier last weekend. Second place behind Veksa was Belgian rider Elias Verbinnen.

Next up qualifiers:
11 Sept. Leogang, Austria
18 Sept. Eindhoven, Netherlands
19 Sept. Jössefors, Sweden
25 Sept. Schüpfheim, Switzerland

Red Bull UCI Pump Track World Championships Qualifier - Berlin, Mellowpark, Germany. It is Vineta Petersone’s (Latvia) second win this season after she secured her World Final spot in Portugal at the end of 2020, leaving the World Final ticket for freestyle rider Lara Lessman from Germany to travel to the World Final but riders are Olympians. Lara secured a 6th at the Olympics after breaking her collarbone 6 weeks before she travelled to Tokyo. Vineta had the fastest time of the day in the Women’s category with 15.352

The men’s category came down to the wire between Philip Schaub (Germany) and Max von Eijndhoven (Netherlands) during the Big Final with both riders breaking the 14 second track mark, Max with a 13,935

With 8 woman on the start list and one of them being Australia's top Woman BMX athlete Saya Sakakibara in the mix it was going to be some hot racing. Down to our final 4 riders the race between MTB’r Cassie Voysey and BMX’r Johanna Jephcott would come down to 3/100ths of a second to decide 3rd and 4th place with spoils going to Cassie Voysey.

The finals saw a bigger gap between a solid and smooth looking Annaliese Rokov and Top BMXer Saya Sakakibara, both having clean runs it was the experience and power of Sakaibara that would take top honours by just over 1.5 seconds.

Several riders had issues navigating the tough and technical Paris Texas Velosolutions Pump Track. It was not a wide open track as you could hear brakes squeaking in the tight switchbacks. In contrast to last weekend in Springdale, AR where the steep and tall banked turns could hold the riders on track a little more. Top 16 men were lead by fastest riders KJ Romero (4th), Grant Lampson (3), Alec Bob (2) and Amakye Andersen with the top spot.

In the quarter finals two riders stood out with sub 23 second mark for the first time of the day. Alec Bob and Amake Andersen were opposite on the bracket board which looked to put them both in the Big Finals but there was more racing to go.

Red Bull UCI Pump Track World Championships qualifier Springdale notes:

• Friday practice saw very few riders as the weather delivered a steady sprinkle all day long.  At the end of the day the skies started to clear and the track began to dry up.
• Saturday morning set up brought more rain but by the time practice started it was clear that we would have a great day for racing with weather and racers filing in.
• Brackets of 16 riders were set after solo timed qualifying.  The pace was hot and riders were closely matched with top times in the low 30 second range.  The top qualifying riders where Grant Lampson in 4th, Collin Hudson in 3rd, Alec Bob in 2nd and the top qualifier on the day was

Gaston County: From the first time riders were taking timed runs it was evident that lap times would be faster than ever before at the Gaston County Velosolutions Pump Track. The Women’s timed runs saw Payton Ridenhour out to an early lead but Ashley Hayes put in a heater on her second timed run taking the top qualifying spot with a 21.90.

Men’s timed runs were blazing fast. For those who went to the 2019 qualifier at the Gaston County park nobody could recall so many times in the low 20 second range like we had tonight. The top eight men riders all held a time below 21 seconds. Brady Kincheloe led the men in timed qualifying with the only

The Red Bull UCI Pump Track World Championships will head to Lisboa! The stunning capital city of Portugal is one of the most charismatic and vibrant cities in Europe, a city that effortlessly blends traditional heritage with striking modernism and progressive thinking and it will now play host to the 2021 World Final on the weekend of 15 to 17 October. The spectacular Velosolutions Pump Track is located in Parque das Nações, next to the famous Vasco da Gama Bridge and will set the stage for the ultimate showdown as some of the best pump track riders in the world lineup in Lisbon. The main track is close to 300m in length and will provide a challenging ride, testing both skill and endurance to the max on race day.