It is three years since Great Britain’s Charlotte Worthington and Australia’s Logan Martin won the first ever Olympic gold medals in BMX Freestyle Park in Tokyo. For the discipline’s second Olympic appearance, at Paris 2024, three more riders in both the women’s and men’s competitions means a total of 24 riders will perform at Place de la Concorde on 30-31 July.
The venue is shared with skateboarding (street and park) as well as 3x3 basketball and breaking, giving the place an urban feel. The newer Olympic sports are attracting young blood and ticket sales confirm that interest is high. But who is there to become stars of the BMX Freestyle Park show?
Diverse and exciting qualification
The qualification system for BMX Freestyle at the 2024 Olympics was different to that of the first edition, with 12 quota places (six men and six women) awarded to the riders finishing in the overall top six of the Olympic Qualifier Series (OQS) for each gender.
The remainder of the rider slots for Paris were decided according to the results from the 2022 UCI Urban World Championships held in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) and the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland (United Kingdom). Nations from five continents are represented. .
The first cut from 12 riders to nine will be made on 30 July during qualification. Then nine riders will hit the final in the afternoon of Wednesday 31 July. There they’ll have two runs of 60 seconds with the best run counting, so riders will be unleashing their biggest and best tricks in order to get the highest scores from the judges’ panel.
Men to watch: Jeanjean hoping for home victory
The 2024 OQS, held over two events in China and Hungary, produced six high quality contenders for the podium spots: Anthony Jeanjean (FRA), Kieran Reilly (GBR), Marcus Christopher (USA), Gustavo Batista de Oliveira (BRA), Justin Dowell (USA) and Marin Ranteš (CRO).
As a Frenchman, Jeanjean has been the centre of attention, and with his recent wins he’s the top favourite for gold.
But there are 11 other riders who have similar aims, not least the defending gold medalist Logan Martin. The Australian’s consistent riding and big tricks are set to take him far.
Marcus Christopher and Justin Dowell, meanwhile, have been preparing at Team USA’s secret training facility in Utah. Will it pay off?
Women’s favourites: a global cast
The Park at La Concorde has so many lines and options that there’s a ramp for everyone to do their best tricks on, and we’re sure to see some amazing choices from the women.
Great Britain’s Charlotte Worthington will be defending her Olympic title from Tokyo, while it will also be the second Olympic Games for the USA’s Hannah Roberts and Perris Benegas, Nikita Ducarroz (SUI), Natalya Diehm (AUS) and Macarena Pérez Grasset (CHI).
The Chinese delegation wasn’t even around three years ago, but since then the Chinese have made a dramatic rise to the very top in BMX Freestyle Park. In fact, Jiaqi Sun, Yawen Deng and Sibei Sun all directly qualified for Paris but since there is a maximum of two riders per nation allowed one has to stay home. In this case it was Sibei Sun.
Add into the mix Kim Lea Müller (GER), Queensaray Villegas Serna (COL), Iveta Miculyčová (CZE) and the French rider – and 2024 UCI World Cup winner on home soil at Montpellier – Laury Perez. The competition is wide open.