The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) has the pleasure of announcing that the inaugural UCI BMX Freestyle Flatland World Championships will be held as part of the next UCI Urban Cycling World Championships, which will take place on 6-10 November 2019 in Chengdu, in China.
The 2019 UCI Urban Cycling World Championships will thus feature BMX Freestyle Flatland, BMX Freestyle Park and Trials, three urban and dynamic disciplines.
Flatland is growing fast and has figured alongside Park on the UCI BMX Freestyle World Cup programme since 2018. It involves performing tricks on a flat piece of ground, often while balancing on a single wheel. Participants are judged on the difficulty and originality of their tricks as well as their style.
In an effort to ensure the UCI Urban Cycling World Championships programme is coherent, MTB Eliminator (XCE) will be withdrawn from this event. The format for the 2019 UCI XCE World Championships is currently under consideration and an announcement will be made at a later stage.
The UCI President David Lappartient said: “The integration of BMX Freestyle Flatland into the programme of the UCI Urban Cycling World Championships marks the appearance of a new UCI World Championships for cycling. I am delighted to see this demonstration of our sport’s dynamism. In addition, the arrival of this discipline reinforces the identity of an event that was created to meet the expectations of a public that enjoys a show and to make our sport even more popular with the younger generation.”