Cycling BMX Freestyle

Cycling BMX Freestyle in Krzeszowice – a special attraction for young people

A new skatepark will be built in Krzeszowice, where the best representatives of the discipline from all over Europe will compete. 62 athletes will take part in the Freestyle Park competition (in the rank of European championships and qualifications for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games). We will admire the competition on June 21 and 22. 500 people will watch it live on the stands, and more than 2,000 standing places will be provided in addition. Thousands of young fans will probably fall in love with this spectacular sport.

What does Cycling BMX Freestyle bike and competition look like?

The sport is characterized by bicycles on wheels of at most 20 inches, having a reinforced and very simplified (no derailleurs) design. Specially adapted tires can withstand very high pressure. The bicycle is very light, and at the same time very durable (the weight of professional equipment is about 9 kg). Depending on the height of the competitor and the category in which he competes, the bikes differ in the size of the ramp, handlebars, as well as the brake, as some ride “breakless”.

The competitions are mainly held on specially adapted skateparks, built of concrete or sometimes wood. The contestants perform tricks, which, depending on their level, are judged accordingly by the judges. The combinations of tricks are scored the highest. In addition, the smoothness of the ride, the height of the tricks performed and the use of the skatepark, i.e. the number of obstacles on which the competitor performed tricks, are evaluated.

From California backyards to the Olympics – the history of the sport

Cycling BMX Freestyle was born in the late 1960s and early 1970s in sunny California, when a group of young guys fascinated by motocross decided to, without spending a fortune, replace a motorcycle with a bicycle. In a few hours they converted what they found in their own basement. Soon, they infected not only their backyard friends with their passion, but gradually the whole world, and amateur BMX competitions grew and became more and more popular.

The earliest photographs of Cycling BMX Freestyle shows date back to 1974, when David and Todd Bank documented spectacular tricks on a self-built ramp in Los Angeles. Over the next decade, the popularity of the discipline continued to grow, with new models of bikes and professional accessories designed strictly for freestyle being developed in the 1980s. The first governing body of the BMX Freestyle Park discipline was the American Freestyle Association (AFA), founded by Bob Morales in 1982.

There are several categories of this sport: street – riding in the city, jumping on walls and handrails, vert – jumping on vertical ramps, flatland – stunts performed on flat terrain, park – riding in specially designed parks and dirt – performing tricks on hops. In all these varieties of freestyle there are international competitions around the world, and among the most recognizable is the X-Games series.

Cycling BMX Freestyle debuted as an Olympic discipline in 2008 in Beijing, but the Freestyle Park category did not appear until the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. We will soon have an opportunity to enjoy this spectacular sport at the 2023 European Games.