UCI BMX Freestyle Park World Cup: Huimin and Jeanjean shine in stormy Brussels

The 2023 Urban Sessions at Josaphat Park in Brussels, Belgium, included the third round of the 2023 UCI BMX Freestyle World Cup (Park).

Brussels has become the second largest round of the UCI BMX Freestyle World Cup, after Montpellier, France, with riders, fans and National Federations embracing the event. After hot, dry days for training and qualification, a surprise hailstorm on Saturday made the Women Park semi-final impossible, but the weather cleared for the men’s semi-final, and the action didn’t disappoint!

Men’s semi-final: global competition

The cut from 80 riders at qualification stage to 24 for the semi-final then just 12 in the final is a tough one, especially when all of the riders show the run they’d planned, leaving the decision with the judges.

Two American riders made it (Marcus Christopher and Justin Dowell), along with three Brits (Kieran Reilly, Declan Brooks, Shaun Gornall), the UCI World Champion Rim Nakamura (Japan), Olympic gold medalist Logan Martin (AUS), former UCI World Cup winner Anthony Jeanjean from France, crowd favourite Kevin Peraza (MEX), Jose Torres from Argentina, Tom van den Bogaard (NED) and Gustavo Batista de Oliviera representing Brazil. With this selection being made, four continents were represented in the final in Brussels.

Women’s final: Chinese riders dominate in Belgium

With another big storm expected in the afternoon, the 24-strong Women’s final on Sunday morning was something of a race against the clock. But this presented no problem for the Chinese riders who dominated, with five riders progressing to the top 8 in the Women Park final results.

Taking home the points for 8th, 6th, 5th, 3rd and 1st would have been unheard of as recently as two years ago but team China, who had been staying in Europe since the last UCI BMX Freestyle World Cup in Montpellier, made that a reality in Belgium.

Xia Honglin’s 87.90 got her on the podium right behind UCI World Champ Hannah Roberts (USA) and Zhou Huimin, whose 91.40 earned her the gold thanks to double truckdrivers, double barspins, flairs, flips, nothings to barspin and tailwhips.

Between the Chinese delegation Switzerland’s Nikita Ducarroz took 4th place – after qualifying in first – and Australian Natalya Diehm, back from injury, settled for seventh. The USA’s Chelsea Wolfe and Colombian Queen Villegas Serna completed the top ten.

Men’s final: Jeanjean’s ray of sunshine

After a tribute to American rider Pat Casey, who recently passed away, the top 12 men each had two chances to perform, with the best of two 60-second runs counting for the final result. Tom van den Bogaard set the bar high in the first run of the first heat of the finals. With runs not going the way he planned, Marcus Christopher finished in spot 12, but the USA rider will go again at the UCI Cycling World Championships just a few weeks away.

Kevin Peraza’s first run was the keeper, and even though he had a little crash in run two, he still put on a show for the crowd. That’s why the BMX Freestyle community loves him!

First placed qualifier Justin Dowell finished in 5th, while Kieran Reilly, who has been on form in 2023, just missed out on the podium. Logan Martin’s second run score of 89.41 was good for third.

Nakamura opened the throttle in run one to score 91.56 but, just like in 2022, it was Anthony Jeanjean who left the competition in awe with two amazing runs, each of which would have won the competition. After the lower score was taken away the 92.56 remained.

Next up, it’s the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships taking place in Glasgow and across Scotland (3-13 August). The BMX Freestyle Park competitions will take place in Glasgow from 5 to 7 August, followed by BMX Freestyle Flatland from 8 to 10 August.