2024 UCI BMX Freestyle World Cup: overall winners crowned in Shanghai

Japanese riders take three out of four wins in final round

After stops in Enoshima, in Japan, then Montpellier, France, the 2024 UCI BMX Freestyle World Cup drew to a close in Shanghai, China, where the season’s overall winners were crowned.

The leaders going into the final stop were French athletes Anthony Jeanjean (Park Men) and Laury Perez (Park Women), while Japan’s Yu Shoji and Nina Suzuki led the Flatland standings. However, with 1000 points up for grabs for the winners in China, the overall winners were far from confirmed.

The action took place in West Bund, in Shanghai's Xuhui District, which has benefitted from significant development in the past 12 months, and includes two skateparks and facilities for the crowds of fans.

Men Flatland: Hayakawa on top, Katagiri wins overall

Performing on the brand-new Flatland platform, eight riders from six nations made it through qualification and the semi-finals to the Men Flatland finals. Three of them were Japanese.

They had stiff competition, not least from Germany’s Dustyn Alt, who made the top-five for the first time in his career. Dutchman Sietse van Berkel qualified for the final in third but finished fourth, bringing his own tricks to the stage.

Ryo Katagiri’s smooth style put Japan on the podium (third). Canada’s Jean William Prevost barely made it out of the qualification round (16th) but grew stronger during the weekend to get second behind Kio Hayakawa from Japan.

Although only managing 7th in Shanghai, Yu Katagiri clinched the UCI World Cup overall thanks to first and third placings in the first two rounds.

Women Flatland: Japanese clean sweep

The Women Flatland competition moved from qualification straight into the final – where all three podium spots were claimed by Japanese riders.

Nina Suzuki had a great season and was undefeated: her three UCI World Cup wins in Japan, France and China logically earned her the 2024 overall trophy. Yui Kiyomune and Ayuna Miyashima completed the podium in Shanghai getting second and third.

Women Park: Home win for Sun Sibei

A change of schedule to beat expected incoming rain, did nothing to hamper the quality of the BMX Freestyle Park competitions in Shanghai. Twelve women from seven countries were aiming for those 1000 UCI World Cup ranking points awaiting the winner…

After two runs were completed by 11 riders, China’s Sun Sibei was leading and only had to do a victory run to wrap up the Park competition. But she still went all out and added new tricks to the final run of the day including a big 720 on the box jump. Completing the entire run in the rain, she earned her best score of the day.

Second place went to the youngest rider in the Park Women competition, 15-year-old Miharu Ozawa from Japan, and in third position Jiaqi Sun who gave the Chinese more reason to celebrate.

Consistency over the three rounds saw the UCI World Cup overall win go to Japan’s Minato Oike.

Men Park: Nakamura prevents Jeanjean’s 1-1-1

With 42 men competing directly in the final, there was an uncountable display of spins, flips, tricks and whips.

Fifteen-year-old Shoa Matsumoto (JPN) had a great debut in the big class with 9th place beating many experienced BMX Freestyle professionals along the way. Sam Grace (AUS) sends it big every time he gets on the course and his high risk strategy rewarded him with 8th position. Kristóf Krauz spins and flips at the same time, and does triple tailwhips in both directions: a solid 7th in Shanghai was the year-best result for the Hungarian. Also earning his season best position was Maxime Chalifour (CAN), who went full-throttle to finish in 6th. Back on the scene after a few years, another Canadian, Mike Varga, confirmed he hasn’t lost anything, getting 5th place for 900s, double flips and 720s. Great Britain is packing a lot of talent and anyone who is not familiar with Reef Way – 4th in Shanghai – will be soon.

Riders from three different continents made it on the podium in Shanghai. In third, representing the USA was Nick Bruce. Second place went to France’s Anthony Jeanjean – just missing out on winning every UCI World Cup round of the year, but two first places and a second was enough to earn him the overall title. The Men Park victory in China went to Rimu Nakamura from Japan: he tore the field of play apart to grab the 1000 UCI World Cup Ranking points.

UCI Urban Cycling World Championships coming up

Attention will now turn to the UCI Urban Cycling World Championships, which includes UCI BMX Freestyle alongside trials, scheduled for 17-21 December in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.