Excitement mounts ahead of the 2021 UCI BMX World Championships on 22 August at Papendal, The Netherlands, a Centre for Elite Sports and Education, that has hosted UCI BMX Supercross World Cups for the past 10 years.
With the UCI World Championships coming just a few weeks after the Olympic Games, the racers who performed at Tokyo should all be in good shape, and need to stay motivated in their attempts to win the UCI rainbow jersey. Those that caught a glimpse of the BMX Racing on the 495 metre BMX track at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games will have seen the best of BMX on show. The track was in perfect condition and provided for some of the most exciting and fast paced BMX racing seen on the Olympic stage. With the six medallists due to the take the start at the 2021 UCI BMX World Championships, the stage is set for an exciting rerun of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Europe.
Gold medallist Niek Kimmann (NED) will be on home soil and will be a top contender for the rainbow jersey after finishing in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games BMX final in a time of just 39.053 seconds. This was the fastest lap over the whole Olympic program of all riders and was over a much longer track than the Papendal centre offers. Another Olympic favourite was Mariana Pajón (COL) who took home the silver medal from Tokyo, having won gold in the past two editions of London 2012 and Rio 2016. Also local Merel Smulders (NED) will be looking to show her skills when on the track with older sister Laura Smulders (NED), who took won the bronze medal in London 2012. Both sisters now having Olympic bronze medals, there will be rivalry on the track this weekend.
With no UCI World Championships held in 2020, Twan van Gendt (NED) and Alise Willoughby (USA) have had the honour of wearing the UCI World Champion’s jersey for an extra year and will have every rider on the entry list race looking to go up against them. The two champions spoke to us ahead of the event.
Twan van Gendt (TvG): The first time racing felt unreal. It gave me a boost riding with it, and it still does today.
Alise Willoughby (AW): It’s an incredible honour riding in those stripes. To have been wearing them throughout my Olympic prep was a great reminder and motivation every day to put the work in.
TvG: The motivation to go back at it was rough the first couple of days. I took some days off, also for the body to recover from the crash at the Olympics. But it’s a dream to defend the world title at my home track and the place where I trained for so long day in and out. I’m prepared and ready to give it my all!
AW: No matter the result of the Olympics, the UCI World Championships are a big deal and very important to me. The best of the best are there every year and it’s a great opportunity to give my all on the world stage. The timing of these UCI World Championships is a bit interesting, but thankfully I am healthy enough after my Olympic crashes to have a crack.
AW: I was really excited for the opportunity to try and defend my 2019 title in 2020 on home soil in Houston, pre-Olympics, so I was honestly very sad that the entire UCI World Championships there were cancelled. It was not the way I had hoped to retain the World Champion’s title into the Olympics, but it continued to be a great honour and made it that much more special to have put it together on that rainy day in Belgium in 2019.
TvG: The track in Papendal is quite well known to most of the riders, but we still ride the track more than most of the field. I think there is always some advantage if you know the place so well and you’re really comfortable with the track. It's not the hardest track [technically] so I expect everyone to be really fast.
TvG: Yes, it will definitely make an appearance on the weekend. It’s a big, wide open track so I will use it again.
TvG: Well, let’s say I had the form in Tokyo but the circumstances over there had a big influence on the poor outcome of my race. It has been some hard weeks since then. And the UCI BMX World Championships are coming up quickly so we will see how it goes next week. But a podium would definitely make up for at least some of the feelings I left Tokyo with.
With Dutch riders Niek Kimmann winning the gold medal and Merel Smulders getting the bronze, it is welcome news that spectators can be present at Papendal.
On Friday 20 and Saturday 21 August the training sessions of the Elite and Junior class will take place. While spectators are not allowed in on these days, they are welcome on Sunday 22 August when the qualification motos and finals will take place. The action starts at 9am local time, and culminates with the finals for Elite and Junior men and Women running between 13:20 and 15:10, when the reigning UCI World Champions will look to defend their rainbow jerseys – and the rest of the field will try to claim them for themselves!