Over the last few days, the UCI World Cycling Centre in Aigle, Switzerland, welcomed an international competition, the Swiss Championships, and a judging clinic for cycling’s youngest Olympic discipline.
The UCI World Cycling Centre (WCC) in Aigle, Switzerland, hosted an international C1 competition for BMX Freestyle for the first time on Saturday 30 September.
The competition at the centre’s BMX Freestyle Park, inaugurated in 2019, attracted some of the discipline’s international stars.
In the women’s competition, European Champion Iveta Miculyčová (CZE) took the win in front of Tokyo 2020 Olympic bronze medallist Nikita Ducarroz (SUI) in 2nd, and Olympic Champion Charlotte Worthington (GBR).
2018 UCI World Champion Justin Dowell (USA) won the men’s competition from Great Britain’s Declan Brooks (Tokyo 2020 Olympic bronze medallist) and Frenchman Istvan Caillet.
“It’s amazing here, it’s absolutely beautiful, I couldn’t have asked for a better week,” said the winner. “The park is challenging. Some of the ramps are mellower than what we’re used to, and some are steeper. But it ended up being a super fun park, you kept your speed very well and some amazing riding went down. Declan is no joke of a rider, he absolutely pushed me today.”
Second-placed Nikita Ducarroz trains at the UCI WCC Park several times a year but said that competing on it was a very different experience. “This was the first time I did a full run here. I’ve never tried to find lines before, I’ve just practised specific tricks. I had to change how I normally look at this park. It’s not super forgiving, and you have to be perfect on everything or you lose your speed and it’s hard to keep going.
“It was pretty awesome to see all my friends from all over the world here. I didn’t expect such a big turnout so it was really awesome.”
Ducarroz was back in action the following day for the Swiss Championships, held on the same Park, where she again won the national title. Alexandre Sideris successfully defended his title of Men’s Swiss Champion.
Judging clinic
Leading up to the two competitions, 17 BMX Freestyle judges from 10 countries participated in a judging clinic, also organised at the UCI World Cycling Centre and given by two experienced international judges.
Some of the judging clinic participants were part of the judging panel – led by the two instructors - for the weekend’s competitions.
UCI World Cycling Centre Director Jacques Landry explained that the centre’s BMX Freestyle Park had been constructed four years ago to coincide with the discipline’s first appearance at the Olympic Games.
“The UCI WCC is a training ground for cycling’s five Olympic disciplines, and open to National Federations and teams who wish to come and train,” he said. “While our BMX Freestyle Park is regularly booked for training sessions, this is the first time we have held an international competition at our premises.
“It was the perfect occasion to hold a judging clinic – as we had already done last year - and for new judges to put their knowledge into practice at a high-level competition. Ensuring we have competent, professional judges in all regions of the world is part of the overall development strategy for BMX Freestyle.”
On the same occasion, members of the UCI BMX Freestyle Commission held their meeting at the UCI World Cycling Centre with the attendance of the Commission’s riders’ representatives Nina Buitrago and multiple X Games medallist Ryan Nyquist. The two Americans competed in Saturday’s UCI World Cycling Centre event, finishing fifth in the women’s and men’s competitions respectively. Another BMX Freestyle Commission member Cory Coffey, also of the USA, finished seventh in the women’s final.