Enoshima 2024 | UCI BMX Freestyle Park World Cup Men Final

It’s show time for the 2024 season of the UCI BMX Freestyle World Cup in Enoshima, Japan! The world’s best athletes will compete in the BMX Freestyle Park / BMX Freestyle Flatland to win the first stage of the season, just a few months before the Olympic Games in Paris…

[Applause] let me heal you oh my [Applause] welcome to the first stop in the UCI BMX freestyle World Cup men’s qualifiers we are here in the beautiful nation of Japan it’s my fourth trip here and I love the tradition the culture Japan has this blend of modern and ancient past

And future I want to say a thank you to Hurricane parks for our setup and our course for the BMX event today that’s happening this is men’s qualifiers I my name is Claude Hickman from Los Angeles I’m here with Egon Timon uh tell us what timberman’s Tim tell us I’m sorry about

That tell us a little bit of what we’re going to see here on this competition in the format well first of all thank you for having me over here Claud it’s been a joy already being here in Japan so what we’re going to see here is this is

The qualifying of the men’s uh prale Park World Cup here in Shima so what we will be seeing is these guys doing their best and making a shot and making it into the finals that we will having later on so the competition format is we had a couple of riders

Already and they’re having two runs of 60 seconds each and then the overall score is going to be um noted for that final uh qualification so both runs will count which is unique and not like the finals so they each get a 60-second run and both scores will be added together

To get their total score yeah that is correct so the grand difference that we will see is so how do you judge something like this well judging is uh it’s pretty complex because it involves a lot of uh of different criteria that we’ll uh we’ll talk about uh we will see

Things like the amplitude for example of a trick right here you’re seeing a beautiful shot of the course uh course built by Hurricane Parks want to say thank you to them a lot of the Riders are calling this like a almost like a backyard setup it’s so tight everything is uh very tall

Which means they can get some big air off this box jump in the middle there you see the Riders warming up for their next Heat we’re in Heat number seven out of eight you’re going to see some of the best riders in the world in just a

Minute and as you said Claud it’s it’s more of a technical setup uh like a lot of riders are sometimes struggling with getting their lines right into park cuz like if you land like a bit off axis let’s say and you end up at a different obstacle than you intended to that can

Really mess up the run that you have planned watching them warm up has been beautiful they weave back and forth between each other it’s been a little scary at some time but we’re going to talk about the judging right now tell us a little bit about what goes into

Judging this yeah so there’s a lot of criteria that we have to keep in mind it’s about the difficulty of the tricks uh we’re talking about amplitude so high HRA jump of course you have to be original and it has to have some good fla good style to

It and a lot of variation so if you want to do bar spins all over the course that’s fine but it’s not going to get you a lot of points now here’s what’s exciting you’re looking at some of the best pro Park riders in the world we have Olympic gold medalists coming up

Here uh we’ve got guys who won the rainbow jersey in the past so I mean this is going to be an incredible event to watch these next two Heats are going to have some of the biggest tricks we’ve seen so far today seeing Logan Martin right there

Throwing it over the box and watching these guys weave in and out of each other I’ve been kind of biting my nails at point and watching them just come super close to running into each other but they understand this course and how to ride it and how to watch out for each

Other so if a look at that first start list for Heat number seven we have Kaden Stone Nick Bruce Justin Dowell and then also omad Nantes from Croatia Gustavo Ola from Brazil and Kevin pazza representing the state of Mexico now we have a minute 20 left in their warmup uh

Egon tell us a little bit about how these guys progress and learn these kind of tricks because you don’t just go out on a wooden ramp or concrete ramp and learn these all right wow R number two let’s make some noise for Logan Bart w oh my gosh opposite flare whip

That was awesome oh wow flip whip coming down the step Down Logan [Applause] Martin look at this one two three whips but he pushed that one his 23 overall Champion Australian cycling Logan [Applause] Martin so what we just saw was a recap of last year’s World Cup season uh where Logan got the enle and I mean he totally deserved it first place in Saudi Arabia

First place in M uh the bronze medal in Brussels and ending strong on the last up in beang in China with that first spot so yeah you saw Logan on that Podium and the real question today is who will be the next person that stands there with that gold well if we’re

Looking at the Cur playing field like there’s still a lot of great riders coming up in the heat heat number eight but like we have r nakam a Japanese Rider and he might have that home serve Advantage got a great crowd from Japan we’re here uh I didn’t mention this in

The beautiful little offshore island of enoshima just south of Tokyo it’s an incredible Vibe right by the beach we have a crowd of hundreds of people who’ve came to watch today but now we’re getting ready to start up with our first Rider Kaden Stone he goes by duby you

Can find him on YouTube he’s from Southern California I get to watch him ride all the time and wait till you see some of the tricks this kid can throw over this box Kaden is going to do some of the highest and most whips over this box here we go first

Hit wow that was a 2 double tail up to barin he can throw some triples some quads he’s starting off strong already see what he’s got up this round for us a little bit of a little bit of a hang up but he’s getting his speed back some

Pedals on K let’s keep it going yeah double tail whip quick little Saban now since it’s a it’s a qualifier and bow front Scot some Riders will have more let’s say safer approach oh with the Casual wow right into that flare yeah he may be playing it a little

Safe on this first run and like you said that’s going to that’s going to be smart to do I wouldn’t call a casual a save option but for him that’s high risk High reward yeah using every transition using the whole time now you’re seeing what I’m talking

About when I say these are the best guys in the world uh dubby just at the X Games at the end of last year pulled the first 14 40 on dirt that’s ever been done he’s silvered at X Games and I know he’s coming out here wanting to show

What he can do on the feast course in the PCI yeah 1440 that that’s for full rotations take a look back at that slow action with the flare and here is’s setting up and we got that one two a double tail whip is what we call this

Keeping the back end twice and that’s a cash roll so as you kick off from The Landing uh from the lip you throw yourself into a60 back flip Kaden’s one of these kids that grew up riding with Daniel Sandal from a very young age and people started watching

Him on YouTube because he was so young but so good next up from the USA we’ve got Nick Bruce coming in here representing USA for this first UCI BMX freestyle World Cup trying to get in the points that they need for this overall contest let’s

Go Nick you got the bronze metal at the last World Championship ships in Glasgow Scotland oh look at that air traffic controller 360 backflip no hander that’s one of his sign tricks ised by the late miror 540 flare getting nice and high on that wall setting up picking up speed a yes that

Was huge he had so much time on that nice and high going back to the park quick little Noh handed transfer wall ride he has thought through this run you know these guys aren’t just going in circles they have thought through lines that they want to follow so that they can get

All their tricks in if they get thrown off their line sometimes that hurts their whole runs last seven seconds for Bruce Double Down kicking a bike down wow got time for one more and he just calls it off right there great first run no touches no slips and and some big

Tricks now we’re not going to see a score right because they’re going to add the two scores together from the first run and a second run so if you’re wondering where the score is they sort of have to just know how they did in their first run and based on that decide

How to run their second one if they need to go for bigger tricks or if they can play it a little bit easier right hoe that is now when you add that noer in we call that air traffic controller now Nick was uh supposed to

Be at the 2020 Olympics but I think he had a a knee injury that kept him from it so he actually got a pretty good seating on uh something before the final R and uh that mess up his run but still got like the ninth spot and now next up is Justin D

Starting off strong with Twix which is combination of that barsan and the TA whip he’s one of the guys that th can throw that trick into a run it’s really almost a video trick it’s the Twix the tail whip and a bar spin at the same time he makes it

Look easy at the beginning of all his runs on j keep it going and if you take a close look at his sleeves he has that Rainbow on it that means he’s a uh a vice exw Champion he got that title in 2018 I think he can do a 360 Twix or

Something like that as well can he as well yeah like he can throw a Twix in like every kind of variation all right let’s see what he’s setting up for his last 6 seconds Little X up over the hip pulling back into the ramp and that’s time for Justin Dow now when you’re

Judging after the time has went out if they’re in the air does the trick still count or do they have to like land the trick before it counts in their score no so according to UCI regulations both Wheels have to be on the ground at the

End of your run so if you’re doing something midair and the buzzer hits zero then fortunately it’s not going to come towards your final score so sometimes you’ll see guys the last few seconds maybe just wave off it’s in order to not get hurt or not ruin a run

A run that might have had no touches or no coming off the bite watching some replays of this let’s take a look that we have 540 no hander tucking in the bars into his lap and throw into his hands that was beautiful nice and stretched all right next up we’ve got

One of the rider’s favorite Riders Marin from Croatia such a great guy doing it for Red Bull also a pretty chill guy Also let’s say a a fe podia regular over the last year it’s like he’s always been on a Podium always sometimes walking away with a medal even now let’s

See what Martin is up for us getting nice and eyeon out wall setting up speed wow yes 360 barsan Follow by another 360 throw in the hands look at that nice flare huge player with the wall ride come on Marin let’s keep it going doing it for Croatia vatka nice and

High wow yeah triple tail whip double bar Spin and as you can see like if you want to get a lot of points you got to do the multiple combinations do double triple even why dle tail to the bar judges are going to like that I think

That might be the first triple whip we’ve seen today Ain putting in a great oh wow with the front flare that trick is so crazy looking he’s got 4 seconds left nice I think that last trick is going to count got the hands off landed in the transition that looked like textbook

Runid a lot of trick variation amplitude originality and also a lot of risk involved as well he did not hold back now let’s take a look at that replay so that was that 720 bar spin like doing a first full rotation of the 360 bar Spin and then pulling into that next

360 very technical riding but also very clean riding that was that triple tail whip from the jumpbox into the hip then a double whip back flip Japan is so beautiful you’ve got got these Hawks flying around just behind these guys as they’re throwing their arms off maybe they think it’s a

Cousin of theirs or something I don’t know this is amazing take a look at the next Rider all the way from Brazil Gustavo Oliva this man brings sambba to the course gosh this kid can boost wa till you see the air that he throws out of this Box I think it’s something in the water in South America they all air so high oh 10 ft easy 360 TP come on Gustavo look at that a yes with the bar SP to no Hender combination quick little bar spin oh doing a half bar spin oh my God like his bars are backwards he keeps on going I did not see this in practice where did he pull that out but that totally affects the

Way that your bike is handling as well you got to short you got got to S wheel base I I don’t think I’ve ever seen a park Rider do tricks with their bars backwards did he do that on purpose no I I think he slipped up a bit but he kept

He kept on going like he didn’t stop he was like you know I got this wow that is the final trick that backflip can can my God talk about making it work for you that was beautiful I want to see that in the replay I know where did he

Go well it didn’t go wrong so a bar spin is when you do a 360 rotation with the front wheel with the bars some guys will hang on to the bars as you go around some will just throw it if it catches your shirt or catches something else it

Could stop halfway it could be that this was an accident he throws one two there and I think it’s on the next pass that’s a bar spin I think it happened on the next quarter maybe maybe right here that’s a can can I think it was on on

The other end of his ramps so here he’s got his bars in the regular way maybe the camera ah so as you can see no he’s got it in a regular position as well on this jump so many big tricks but then that was so interesting to watch we’ll I

Guess we’ll have to wait till the second run to see if he did that on purpose I mean that’s a sign of creativity maybe he intended to do it like that now we’ve got one of the favorite riders in the world Kevin perza doing it for Mexico here with some of his family

Getting ready to drop in we haven’t seen anybody drop in off that little high wall ride whip into the transition that takes a lot of nerve Kevin’s got such great Style with the oh front flip and without breaks makes it even harder cuz you can lock your wheels while doing it nice double down wow huge player over the Gap like that mind of travel that he’s getting on FL only thing about Kevin you just see that smile on him the whole

Time huge pocket a almost over jumped it like the amount like you have to pull back so hard to go from that fueta spine uh quarter into the feast s look at that Ellie you bucket air he is just having fun look at that oh came off a little

Bit in the middle of that flare whip looked like he wanted to kick it back he might have been trying to kick it back there oh G Turn I’ve never seen him not pull that that’s okay I mean since this is a qualifier this will affect his score but still I

Mean my respect to Kevin pazza for showing that amount of creativity in run he got a little thrown off on this flare whip over here and I think he tried to come back and do the G turn that he normally does uh but maybe didn’t have

The speed yeah he has those so unlock so we got the slow-mo Camera Action that was at dropping and then with the front flip Hing it over the Box pretty clean landing on that one and that that’s the L air that was beautiful in a pocket everything was really Flawless and just

Until that one flare Whip and like you said we’ll see if maybe he was trying to kick it back the other way doing it for Mexico yeah like I I just love the international atmosphere of every BMX cont that we go to it’s so fun but you

Know it’s great is seeing all these guys cheer for each other it’s all just one big BMX family we’re starting again back at the top with dubby Kaden Stone he’s here with his mom in Japan she’s cheering him on and let’s see what he does in this second run to maybe score

Some more points than he did in the first he’s going to hit that box that’s his bread and butter watch these spins oh 720 double bar spin two truck drivers in the middle of it he’s coming after that double flare oh going for it and just sliding out a little bit on the

Transition but it looks like he is going going to call it off he started so strong on that one you know once you lose your speed lose your momentum sometimes those guys just decide to call it off right there he’s having fun I know this is like one

Of his first trips to Japan he’s had a great time he’s enjoying himself said you know what I’m not going to get hurt um I had a great first run and decided to call it off but let’s look at some of the tricks he did hit there in his

Second run that was it so so we got that of rotation for the 540 but ah yeah just landed a little sideways came in a bit mow I’ve seen that kid spend some crazy crazy stuff on the step up over at the dreamyard but maybe they should bring

Back dirt at Feast M as well then he can do a 144 at Feast M would be awesome to see and a lot of these guys ride Park and dirt uh he’s Cadence is the first score to come in it’s at a 45 so that gives you

An idea what two runs together might score it puts him pretty in the middle of the pack right now uh probably not where he wanted to be but we’re going to see from Bruce and these next guys where they if they can land two solid runs if

It’s going to put them in one of those top spots and here comes Bri Nick Bruce from the USA was our Shang D 17 win oh my God what a Powerhouse come on Nick keep it going flare downside til whip High getting ready for the box jump 360 back flip nice high and

Floaty no hand like the eagles flying around his Island set up for that box 6 solid run already and he’s also in the Olympic selection for Team USA for the upcoming Olympic qualifier series Nick is just such a strong athletic Rider you know 60 seconds may

Not sound like a long time to you but to get out there and do these tricks with 60 seconds straight it really takes a lot of your gas tank and Nick has it pumping up the crowd here in Japan crowd is loving him we’ve got the sun setting in the

Background over this inoshima beautiful hurricane Park man if you get a chance to come to a feast event in M puer or a UCI event somewhere in the world you’ve got to go see this in person cuz it’s just so incredible to see what are we

Seeing here now was that 720 double tail whip two rotations of the bike and two rotations of the bra whipping around that was that flare tail whip bside ta whip 360 back flip there’s so much going on you’re spinning on several different axis Nick has landed some of the first tricks

In the world uh first flare windshield wiper first 360 double whip the downside I mean he’s got a deep deep bag of really technical tricks we’re going to wait and see if his score comes in but we’re going to have Dylan and there’s Nick Bruce the score 87.1 that puts him

In the first spot in the qualifiers so that is five points ahead of number two that is going to be the score to beat an 87 7.1 Justin da also coming USA wants to see if he can top that score from Nick whoa okay I think he heard his neck a

Bit he landed really awkwardly yeah I’m glad he’s moving like a bit of a whiplash yeah that was a really awkward way to land he it looked like kind of a seat grabs maybe tail up throw it after that I think tried going for that Twix

But oh yeah miss the bar Miss whip oh I bet he was trying the 360 Twix and that’s probably what it was but he landed and it really kind of threw him pretty violently I’m glad to see him riding away uh that’s the important thing these guys are safe you know this

Is such a dangerous sport as you can imagine and you may not realize that but besides the helmet these guys are wearing all kinds of padding under their jeans under you know sometimes their chest and so they have a lot of protection that you may not see for

Stuff like that their ankles everything wild guards Y and Justin yes you conserve that energy because we have the Olympic qualifier series coming up to claim that spot at the Olympic Games coming up in uh in Paris next summer and Justin is in the Olympic selection for Team USA so uh

Maybe like sit this one out and get all that energy going for the first Olympic qualifier uh it’s in two months that’s going to be the one in shangai China these guys have a lot of pressure on them you know for contests like this that matter for the UCI points but also

Keeping in mind things like the Olympics you know uh that that’s a lot to sort of carry as an athlete and go compete and have fun and do your best and so you know Justin there just doing the smart thing calling it off walking off safe ride again another day yeah but earlier

On we were doing some interviews with the with the women and I was talking to L Lesman German Rider and we were talking about coaching uh not just coaching for your tricks but also mental coaching since I mean you mentioned all the pressure that there is that something to keep in

Mind you can be the best in the world but you also want to enjoy the sport that you grew up with back to Croatia to Marin rantes quick truck driver 360 barspin getting nice and high 720 tail whip that’s what we’re talking about throwing that late no hander always looks so dangerous so

Crazy like getting your bars uh getting your hands back to your bars just in time before you hit the landing he’s got this crazy transfer right here three across the PIP he’s got those locked in those triple whips he had a really good first run and it looks

Like he’s 20 seconds away from really great second run I think mod is among some of the most consistent riders in uh in the World Championship uh the World Cup excuse me yeah yes Min 8 seconds still got time for one more hit on this box nice little

Three no hitter and hanging up just a little bit just a bit of a hang up even had a time for another tail whip great great second run from minin and just the nicest guy in the world you know every time I’ve been around him he’s super

Friendly very kind gracious easy to talk to like he’s a pro on and off the bike and also a pretty funny guy because the last days he was having fun with making his own kind of photo collages on Instagram with all the other Riders but I talking about consistency

Looking at last year a 13th Place in Saudi Arabia 16th at um at Brussels a fourth place so just shy of that podium China like we went wild in the commentating move in China with Martin’s writing look at that doing it for Croatia aaska we’re about to see this

Score come in to see if Marin canp spot I think he was saying M which means I love you C I love you in Croatian so maybe was saying I love you Croatia vka Nick Bruce is sitting on 87.1 in the first spot second is 82 so there’s a lot of

Room up there for some higher scores yeah no in order to qualify from qualifiers to a semifinal you need to secure a spot that is 24 or 24th place or better okay and also like the higher you qualify and that is going to give you like an advantage in in semi-finals

And in finals as well because will be riding later than all the other Riders wow 86.3 right under Nick Bruce but still like we said in those top spots and uh we still have another heat to go but that’s probably going to be enough to put him in qualifications right yeah

Like virtually he is in that semi-final all right here’s our guy who can air higher than anybody out of this box watch this he is sambba on a bike Gustavo now in his first run we saw him get kind of tangled up in his bars backwards he

Kept going with it even pulled some tricks with his back which you could hear the other Riders responding uh in disbelief cuz we haven’t really seen that we don’t know if he did it on purpose but I think we’ll find out here in a minute see if he does it again I

Think it was a slip B but he got away with it I think he impressed the judges whip riding with bars backwards ah pocket air playing all back you’re using a lot of shoulder muscle in that one yes double bar spin come on Gustavo he might have picked up he may

Have picked up a new signature trick if he’s going to do the bar backwards just doing doing a whole run with bars backwards exactly last trick the can can backflip and that’s a timer that’s a buzzer yeah another good solid second run I think this is going to score pretty high

For him this is going to be my guess is top five we saw consistency we saw height we saw originality especially with the bars backwards and just that you know it’s it’s that extra bit of that that sambba that he puts into his bike it’s like he’s dancing on on the on the

For a look at that so a back flip and then combining a bar Spin and a no hander do the judges uh count any extra points for them having no breaks versus having back breaks are those kind of the things that they might consider in difficulty that would depend on the

Trick like if you’re doing a tail tap with a break that that will be easy that can be easier when down with a break uh so it’s really depending on the trick that you’re performing do you need that pedal pressure do you need like a a

Locking force and like a bre for example so it depends it depends but it’s not really a huge difference Gustavo feeling good about that going to call today with his jacket wait for his score to come in now talking about breaks we have a lot of riders with the gyroscopes on your bikes

So that means you can keep on turning your bars without twisting your Brak cables Gustavo coming in at 74.1 kind of in that six Place spot probably still good enough to qualify I bet he’s got some more stuff he wants to do in the semifinals but now we’re

Finishing up with again our one of our favorites Kevin perza pointing to God s a little prayer as he’s about to drop in off this huge wall again whip oh like the the height of that corner is insanely high that is like 20 ft 6 M

This park is a lot bigger than it might look on camera yeah that drop in’s huge come on Kevin keep it going nice oh yes Superman seed rep fully stretched just signature signature Kevin pza move wow oh came off the bike just a little bit there he whipped from the hip into

The inside pocket of that other curve I haven’t seen anybody do that like the distance on that one now he’s got 20 seconds left so instead of calling it off he’s going to keep throwing some more tricks he’s going to put on a show what 540 into the transition

Landing 180 okay now he’s done now he’s done Kevin showing love to this crowd in Japan uh walking down shaking some hands I mean this is why people love Kevin pza look at that doing it for Mexico doing it for Monster you know this is about having fun and showing people that BMX

Is just an awesome sport like he’s a crowd’s favorite in Brussels he messed up on his second run uh and that was like halfway his run what he did is picked up his bike again started doing the most insane tricks that he could do wow you know so that’s that till him

Dropping this just reminds you it’s more than just competing it’s about showing people a good time and just spreading the joy of BMX freestyle so here we have that stretched Superman seed grab stretching the legs grabbing the seat every trick Kevin does like a poster that I want to put on my

Wall it’s always so f risk he’s doing that and with a smile on his face there he is showing some love to the crowd still having a great time and probably honestly a great run I mean even with the mess up he might end up still qualifying for for to be in the

Top qualifying he needs a point of a score of 44.7 so we’re going to have to wait and see there was a slip up in the first run and a slip up in the second so that might just put Kevin somewhere on the bubble of that that

44.7 what do you think if you had to make a guess that’s going to be a tough one maybe somewhere in the lower 20s like spot 21 22 but we still have six more riders coming up yeah that’s true now we are not judges and so I I I wouldn’t want to

Have to judge this but from past experience we can kind of make some guesses on how they might be doing as far as the score Kevin score should be coming in any minute as he gets back on the ramp goes back to his family and friends over

There now in the judging panel we have the likes of Brian kinsky fth Bard lots of History yeah I mean that’s probably 200 years of BMX experience over there Kevin wow look at that 45 just edging out the legend Ryan nist who’s not going to be super happy

About that that’s kind of a bummer because we all love Ryan nist who came out to compete this event but Kevin just edging him out for one of the spots in the qualifiers that means that Ryan won’t be going on in the qualification of the semifinal uh but Kevin will get

Another chance to show what he can do on some of these ramps we are to go ladies and gentlemen this is we’re in the next group starting off with the Argentinian Pan-American games winner Jose Torres Gil oh look at the height of that drop 20 like the speed the high that he’s

Getting oh he’s on a tear getting high on the wall he’s ripping up this park oh getting a little sideways on that but still Landing it keeping his speed super smooth on that transition and there’s no signs of stopping with Jose yeah he is tearing into this hurricane part keep it going

Yes yes Chanel wall rde we haven’t seen that today back flip tail whip man he’s throwing so many big tricks in such a little amount of time he’s still got 15 seconds left like every obstacle he hits he’s doing a trick and that’s what the judges want to

See they want to see as many tricks on all the transition you can he’s using the whole course big flare there with one second left wow I’m impressed by this one and that was a great first run if he can continue this in that second run as well we might

Have a new first plays in qualifiers it’s a great first run but we’re going to watch some highlights but up next we’re going to have a Japanese Legend coming in here Jose had an amazing season last year uh won the he won the Pan-American games he got gold at Y

Games and looking at the World Cup season fourth plays in Saudi Arabia ninth plays in m sixth place in Brussels there’s no signs of stopping with this man wow all right here comes the we’re waiting on that score still but we’re going to keep going and we’re waiting for the Japanese

Revelation yeah the crowd is getting ready to get loud look at Rim looks like he started growing a mustache that’s that’s something new haven’t seen rim with a mustache yet I’m liking it it’s getting a little older man a little more experience older I think he’s in his early 20s

Still it’s a sign of wisdom yeah well we’re still waiting for that last score but they’re going to let remu go ahead and start you can’t hold him back cuz Japan wants to see their Champion Rim huge transition off to a great start already Now setting up for Success on that

Jumpbox 720 bar spin stomping that wall ride going back into the box section whip Blair baring keeping it going hitting everything on this course with full speed R Nakamura doing it for Japan 2022 World Champion all right he’s slowing down a little bit what’s he setting up for

Getting high on that wall again hit the Box whoa back flip triple trip I think it was a triple parman that he did last seconds on the clock for Nakamura and that getting in the last few tricks say so that was a back flip with three bar spins while he’s flipping

Over the Box we call it a truck driver taking the hand all the way around with the bars those are some of the biggest tricks in park right now and rim just had a very clean great first run like we got to see that in the

Replay and like the way that he does it throws it the bars catches him again throws him again catches him again so many could go wrong wow look at that just almost missing the transition you can see on his face he was probably more surprised than us crazy

Tricks probably a little pressure on him with this you know Shima crowd but you know what he handled it great he put down a great run and we’re going to see what if his score reflects that in just a second and see if it knocks out Nick

And some of these guys at the Top so next up on the Olympic selection team of them USA Marcus Christopher 360 and an odd thing about him is he writes goofy footed which means he turns to the same way as as he as his pedals facing keeps it going come on double downside till from Marcus wow doing these long

Transfers scraping the coping on on the way back in still got 30 seconds on the clock plenty of time left but he’s put down some big tricks already huge 54 play what I don’t think he meant to do that but it looked good yeah like trying to do feeble on the

Box he lost some speed but he’s got time for one more hit one more trick he’s keeping it going he’s being a true sport about it nice now look back very stylish turning his body twisting his body all around that hat tube I think that hang up probably took

A lot of energy out of his run and he just wanted to finish with some more clean tricks that’s something else the judges uh will be looking at like are you pedaling in between obstacles that that’s often a sign that you didn’t really set up for your jump or that you

Did maybe like a sloppy Landing yeah a course that’s this tight really you should not pedal at any point like if you land everything smooth with the transition you should be able to pump and keep your speed for the most part other than a few pedals here and

There so yeah seeing them pedal across the flat means that something probably went wrong but here we’re going to look at some highlights from that double yeah double whip back flip and that’s a 360 backflip man looking over finding the landing Landing it perfectly that’s what you want to see yeah like

You can see his head turn and then as soon as he spots that Landing keeps on looking to The Landing to set up for a good good one there we have that 540 flare man so many big tricks I actually forgot about all that he did before this uh and that

Was the the sprocket stall let’s call it a sprocket stall sprocket grind but even got in this little look back at the end very stylish Marcus waiting for his score to come in he was X Games uh X Games competitor just the end of last year and here’s France’s favorite Anthony

Jeanan and he’s he will be running at the Olympics in Paris since yeah France is a host station of the Olympics but this guy has had such a great season starting off strong Come on Anthony Anthony been a part of the feast competitions for many many years and

Just kind of came up watching it as a you know spectator and now he’s one of the top athletes in the world wow flowing huge five flare made in friends no no made in Feast yeah yeah that was a triple 362 using the Box 720 keeps it going

Tons of Speed still with 20 seconds left and this man is a true Athlete on Instagram last week he was doing some kind of heat training where he was like pedaling an indoor bike while having the heaters on him as well landed sort of flat on that last flare whip on let’s

See if he keeps his speed up quick no hander keeps it going and Dad’s going to be the time for anony Jean couple little Hang-Ups but overall that’s a pretty good run because the tricks he did with his time were just such big tricks let’s look at some of

The highlights and you tell us kind of what what you think are going to score some of the highest points out of that let’s see now for the upcoming Olympics he already has a experience from Tokyo couple years ago that was that back flip double tail whip and then here we have

That five 40 flare like I said there were just so many tricks in that 60 seconds I almost can’t remember what he did but one two three so that was that back flip triple tail whip kicking the bike three times 720 double rotation he starts to hang up on some of

These tricks and landed a little low on that lost a little speed I don’t know if the judges are going to see that score that still I believe that’s going to be a pretty good solid run we’ll have to see after that second run how the judges

Will score both of their runs and now it’s getting a like uh it’s almost like 5:00 here in Japan it’s getting a bit cold as well so all the Riders after the run they get on their jackets immediately to keep those muscles warming going looks like someone’s having

Anthony’s up there pedaling uh someone trouble sometimes these guys will bring two bikes you know they’ll have mechanics they’ll have extra parts like Logan and beon he completed the final on three separate Wheels I think it looks like a chain that they is that is that I can’t tell

Maybe it’s an extra bite for Kieran but they’re trying to put the chain back together put it back on maybe he broke a chain which will happen sometimes now will the judges allow them uh a chance to miss the run if there’s bike problems or do they have to go immediately cuz he

Looks stressed yeah the thing is he qualifiers um both runs counting um and like your bike should be solid and set up looks like he’s taking somebody else bike I don’t know for sure I think that’s Char Charlotte irvington’s bike the British Olympic gold medalist from Tokyo 2020 so here we’re seeing Kieran

Uh looks like he had some bike trouble but he just grabbed a friend’s bike and did a front flip on it oh buing on that front flip I mean it’s not easy just grabbing someone else’s by because like they have maybe a different geometry that they’re riding with

Different top tube size uh another backend size SI even the angle off your head to you that can have a huge difference on your riding style looks like Kieran just you know wasn’t willing to put the risk out there to try to do some of that stuff on somebody else’s

Bike like you said it’s so different there’s so much opportunity to get hurt he’s doing a smart thing walking away uh and just recognizing that man I’ll have to wait for that second run and hope that it has enough to put him in that top

24 I don’t know what I guess he’s got 10 seconds left here let’s just do something for some points because both runs do count the scores are combined so I think you got Jeffrey Willie will by line Canadian and they have about let’s say the same height so yeah well might

Have been a good choice but uh yeah unfortunately but you know we’re early in 2024 we still have a long season to go we have the Olympics and maybe he can put all his money on the Olympics Aha and next up your Tokyo 2020 gold medalist two times world champion Logan

Martin starting off strong with that front flip Logan Martin is the man everyone is watching this year 720 double bar spin wow getting high on that wall he’s just got box trips for tricks for days this is a lot like his setup back in Australia at his house that he trains on

Every day like he has the the perfect uh let’s say backyard setup that is how how he on the Gold Coast in Australia he’s got so many flare tricks so many like backflip tricks and he makes it look Flawless like he’s not even breaking a sweat this man is a

Demigod oh look finding that Landing Come On LAN keep it going the last couple of seconds one more oh nice flare SE style and all right ending with a barrel roll you know one of the advantages of going later in the competition is you get to see how the other Riders have

Done and what you might need to have a better score and so Logan has that Advantage because of the points that he’s built before them from last year to go later I think that was a little bit safer run for Logan but he at this point just wants to make it into qualification

For the semifinals but his easy run includes things like this yeah like doing a front flip as as an easy as a safe choice I say that with a lot of Grace easy run for Logan Martin is different than most people like uh you know like in in video

Games you have easy medium and hard mode and then there’s Logan Martin mode look at that on his signature hyper bikes that’s that battle roll man just making it look easy bit of an off like in between a b in an off axis back flip and that’s that backflip bar spin to no

Hander he just gets so high over that box he can throw he could throw more combinations in there if he wanted to but you can tell he’s holding back maybe just a little bit on that first run I think he was the last Rider in our first in our heat there which means

We’re going to start back at the top and since it’s the second run we’re going to see what their end total is So those both runs combin back to the Argentinian Jose Torres Gil pan amican Champion X Games gold medalist come on Jose show us that Argentinian style Jose is just in another

Gear oh back flip barspin looking for that no hander coming in hot for the W ride 360 double tail whip but he was able to adjust in the air stay on the bike keep all that speed which that’s really what matters he hasn’t come off the bike and he’s still

Throwing big tricks on all this for his second run one of the best performing South American athletes last world’s championships he got the ninth spot in Glasgow big flare whip wow and look how much speed he got off that trick still 10 seconds left little bit of slightest bit of a

Hangup flare nice and clean and a disaster disaster that’s an old school trick it’s called a disaster because it used to be the end of your chain when you did that back in the day when we had 40 tee sprockets now you’re all riding like 25 to maybe 28 depending on your

Preference I think that’s got to score pretty high in the 80s guess we’re not judging though uh we have a great panel of Judges who now will have to deliberate and find out what the final scor are combined for these riders for the qualification so that’s that alop pocket air man I

Love Al oops aloop is you’re turning One Direction but you’re actually moving to the other direction you’re travel is the opposite side wow look how high you can’t even see the ramp in the screenshot because he’s so high on that all right Jose Torres we’re waiting

To see if he will take one of the top spots or even beat out Nick Bruce who sits at 87.1 that is the score to beat to have that top final spot going into the semifinals do you think he did it my guess is somewhere among the top top

Five maybe but that’s not up to me I’m just an I’m just an an humble announcer you know each of these judges a lot of times looks for different things and there his score is 8416 putting him at number three which is a great spot going in tomorrow I

Think he’s going to feel great about that but now we’re going to see what the Japanese Phenom Rim can do your 2020 simple session winner your 2020 the 2022 World Champion rimn Nakamura doing it for Japan he’s on his home turf he has a crowd with

Him 720 double bar spin wall R right slapping onto the wall big down rip Yes with the flare bar spin setting up for that transfer to 270 bar spin to no hander toan pocket air still 30 seconds left on the clock really clean and lofty downside hilp tring over the channel just floating it Rim has been riding since a really

Young age but I feel like a couple years ago he just started winning everything like tricks like that throwing the bar so fast like wherever he’s competing he’s always like somewhere like in top 10 top five maybe 5 seconds left time for just one more hit on maybe this pocket

Nice like I remember seeing him in Brussels and he got he got the second spot on the podium it was a really tight battle between him Anthony Chan and Logan Martin but eventually uh it was Anthony that’s took win at the Brussels stop man look at Rim breath a huge sigh relief

We got the sun setting in the background over the mountains in Japan and rim knows that he’s put down a good enough run that’s probably going to put him in one of the qualifier spots now we’re just waiting to see where he lands toward the end let’s look at some

Highlights so that was that 720 double bar spin throwing the bars twice that was that transfer so the 270 bar spin then throwing his hands out for that no hander you know we saw his first run he looked surprised yeah he almost didn’t get that around yeah the back flip

Triple bar Spin and look at that the travel on that transfer that was a beautiful thing to watch but he looked a little surprised to land some of the stuff in the first run even on his own face yeah like sometimes you’re going in blind when you

Start a trick like you’re going full speed you think you have to speed right and then you just have to put your Fai into your bike just hang on well Rim is waiting anxiously at as is Japan right now as they wait to see is he going to nudge

Out our leader Nick Bruce who’s sitting at a 87.1 the judges are taking their time to get this right talking deliberating making sure that they get the right score yeah and the way it works is they all have these iPads lined up on their desk and they just have to upload the

Points and it goes into Central server and that server then transmits the points to our screen should be any second now on all right wow 86.7 that puts Rim Nakamura in number two spot going into the semifinals that’s a great run he feels great about

That that will let him go almost last in the semis which is a great place to be so that you can watch how others do next up four Riders to go starting off with Marcus Christopher Marcus has some big tricks though and he’s coming in hot on this box wow

Double downside tail whip then transferring into the jump box oh downside foot BL on the wall digging that one it’s a great run I feel like now he got hung up a little bit on his first run we’ll see if he can make it through the second one and hit all the

Stuff he wants to hit like that wow double downside ta whip 540 flare come on Marcus keep it going 20 more yeah here’s where the stamina really matters for These Guys these are true Athletes 4 seconds left solid run wants to just hit this and right away that’s on the buzzer right on the buzzer Marcus Christopher doing it for USA and that’s a good that’s a good solid run so we’ll wait and see is that going to put him in one of the qualification spots which

Right now that’s all these guys are trying to do is get into the top 24 make it to the semifinals um both runs are combined together by the judges to get this score let’s look at some highlights from Justin’s Run sorry Marcus is right so that’s the double downside H whip that’s a fun little section right there like the obstacles that that hurricane Parks has made for this uh this event 540 flare and here we have that downside foot plant on the wall That’s technical it’s creative it’s what we’re looking

For in that great One so right now we have the cameras on Marcus Christopher and Nick Bru because Nick is in that hot suat right now he’s just sitting back watching now to see if he will stay in that first spot and I mean Nick has a lot of fees experience I

Mean he won the 2017 Shang do stop and he’s also in the Olympic selection so it must be weird like being like battling it out with your teammate and that’s a 79.3 number six is pretty good that’s actually really good that’s still pretty good that means you’re qualifying you’re

Qualifying he had a few Hang-Ups in the first run and so to land there overall means he still had some really big tricks and the judges rewarded that but now we get to see Anthony Johan Johan the pride of France oh back flip double tail whip one anony keep it

Going yeah 360 bar spin XS up Crossing to bars he just makes it look so easy sometimes and these are some of the hardest tricks in the world that he’s throwing he has to Pedal a bit between the Rams so that’s messing up his flow a bit that’s something that the judges

Will be looking at but still pretty solid riding 720 by Anon like he’s back in the flow this little transfer across the hip and hit the pocket all right what’s he got yes FL nice and high still got 10 seconds left on that clock let’s see

What he has for us bar SP transfer over the channel whoa little wheelie down the channel yeah like on on the edge of looping out but he kept on going I feel like the things that started to go wrong in the first one just were little tiny

Things but he got them in that one he landed a little low over here but it didn’t stop his speed kept it going no fun thing about Anthony is uh you know with France being hosted country for the Olympics he’s going to be an Olympic torch Bearer in May wow what an honor

Yeah but I think it’s Hot like running around with a torch all time I believe they let you op to keep the torch that you run with too which is really cool you can take it I think they do yeah and like the French are going like completely mad over the Olympics

Like there’s so much going on in Paris and like all around and the venue itself is going to be at um uh Le like the big Street in between the AR and it’s going to be at the plus the laon which is like in the middle of Paris right next to the river

Lassen take it’s going to be amazing yeah I’m sure they’ll be getting loud for Anthony jjan I mean the city of love and it might be the city of Anthony jjan showing his love for this Japanese crowd I think we’re about to see his score come in and see if it takes the

Top spot from Nick Bruce because again those were some big big tricks and wow it did what 91.5 Anthony jnj is our new leader going into the semi finals tomorrow just edged out Nick Bruce who now is sitting in second place wow now we’re back to Kieran Riley he

Had a bit of a slip up in that first run because his bike broke down looks like he fixed it he’s back on that white bike his own bike with his geometry that he likes so he can put on the big Kieran Ry show Kieran has got some heavy heavy

Tricks man when he gets in the flow so he’s really got to make this run count this is basically his only run to get into that top 24 like you said he had a chain break right during the practice and it something went wrong and they were

Trying to fix it when he was supposed to be taking his first run yeah pretty solid run already by Kieran Riley the curan world champion Dawning that rainbow jersey lost a little speed on that one transfer but he’s got it back wow heavy come on Kier keep it going yeah he

Needs to hit every obstacle he needs to trick everything and bring it all right here he yes to Max it out on every criteria that they have for judging he’s got eight seconds left what’s he going to do whip flare and that’s the buzzer nice flare you know that’s not his only

Jersey that he has but last season he also got the European title and the the British title as well yeah he’s just such a great great Park Rider um just really strong and that a really strong second run now we just have to wait and see and he’s just wondering is that

Enough was that enough to beat out guys who had two decent runs you know in the first heat and it’s going to be you know it’s going to be a nailbiter I would not want to be judging this but let’s look back at some highlights from what Kieran

Was able to do with this second run so that’s the 720 tail whip nice and clean on that tall order bike all order the company of Sebastian Keep we got to see Kieran r at X Games Los Angeles and he was just throwing down some of the craziest tricks on that course such a good dude like the way to describe his style is I’d say British Bulldog like he goes hard he goes heavy you know what he I

Feel like he’s trying to have a good attitude about it you know and not let it bother you too much I mean that like you said earlier so much of this is mental so to get in that top 24 it looks like he needs a 52 but Kieran unfortunately is coming in

43.5 you know what waving to the crowd it’s okay there’s always going to be another day for him to show what he can do like a champ but speaking of Champs now we’ve got starting off strong with that front flip no Hender by Logan Martin

Look at that oh 720 tail whip this is why Logan won the gold medal for the 2020 Olympics he just has so many crazy tricks that’s going getting high on that back flip bars been no hander flare downside tail it might have been an opposite footed one he’s still going up

When he was throwing his hands off it’s almost like he could have thrown the bars one or two more times in that trick Logan just has such strength you know such big airs even this he’s probably you know maybe doing something that’s like we said earlier safe for

Logan Wow Come on Logan last 10 seconds like he’s taking it a bit easier on the last one a little flare and that’s probably all he needs wav to the crowd there’s your champion of just almost everything last year we’re going to see if that was

Enough to put him in front of Anthony Jean Jan who sits at a 91.5 we’ll wait and see what the judges think of Logan Martin and that run what are some of the highlights from that that you remember GL to see I mean definitely the front flip no Hender yeah

That’s the that’s the one I want to see back in the in the replay look at this this is just a beautiful shot in oima oh but you in romantic mood actually like I said if you get a chance to attend a feast or UCI event look at

This 10 ft over the Box throw in the hands that’s at 7202 whip wow look at air spotting The Landing clean spinning double ta doing it for the Gold Coast CL do you know the three certainties in life well that’s death death Logan Martin Texas and Logan Martin getting on a podium

Wow did you see the height on that almost out of the frame rocking his dut gloves I think Nicole Kidman posted something about him after the Olympics I think that might have been one of the highlights of my life being mentioned by Nicole kid exactly they were so proud

You know just to have a champion from their Nation Logan again has a lot of pressure on him you know to keep that up so he came here and did two really good runs ah so we got Anthony je the Frenchie in the hot seat with that

9150 man the judges they they know how to score these tricks they’ve seen Logan they know what he can do it’s a hard job I mean that’s a hard thing about BMX you’re judging someone’s riding someone’s performance and it’s not a personal matter it’s just it’s it’s a sport it’s

What happens on on on the track and after a competition like they just go for a cup of coffee and it’s all okay all right it’s come in at 91.0 so it puts him just a half Point under Anthony jeanan but it will still put Logan in that second spot qualifying

For tomorrow he will go next to last I’m sure he’s happy about that he’s putting his jacket on he’s done for the day he did what he needed to do like this qualification group was a pleasure to watch what an amazing event look at the venue look at the island of inoshima

Japan just never disappoints here we have the results list for qualification Anthony Jean Jean doing it for France coming in first place then Logan Martin Nick Bruce in third Rim from Japan in fourth maren Jose Dylan hessie Marcus Christopher like like a nice variety of

Of riders you know like we got the very technical ones we got the big and Burly Riders from all over the world like we’re taking off every box we have a couple of Japanese riders in the qualification which is great to see yes definitely very diverse so we

Got four Japanese Riders qualifying into the semifinals man if you thought that was amazing you’re going to want to check out the semifinals with these guys what an amazing event I always love uh the courses that hurricane builds always challenges these guys it always makes them think outside the box putting new

Elements into it so that we get to see more you know more of what they can do every time yeah and in general the overall Feast atmosphere that we have like there’s no rivalry like you can just like joke along with all the Riders like even if you’re not really into the

Sport like you can go up to them and have a chat about anything and they’ll they’ll answer and can have a nice chat well this has been the UCI BMX freestyle World Cup men’s qualification 2024 is the first stop uh for the UCI there are other events coming up this year they’re

Going to be really exciting that we can watch for yeah we still have uh Feast M so like the the OG the original Feast contest uh that’s in May and I think the week after there will be the first Olympic qualifier Series in Shanghai q o

Us yeah all eyes are going to be on Shanghai for that if you’ve never been we’re going to take a look at the winning run all right we had Anthony je this was his second run I think or no this is his first Run gets so high on yeah he gets so high on that wall it gives him the speed to do all these tricks over the Box than going back to that funky obstacle with the 540 fler nice and high setting up for the jum bucks and boom the back flip triple tail

Whip I’m sure France would love to show up at M puer and see Anthony Jean Jan perform there in May but here in Japan he has put down the top qualifying run we’re watching some of the highlights from it right now man huge flare whip if

This is an appetizer for the rest of the season we’re going to see a lot more of Anthony sha it was amazing now the I mean the the level of riding today was so high and and you know when you combine the two runs together it it just means that

They have to be able to perform that twice in a row they can’t just go out and have one amazing run and one run they call off so it really puts a lot of pressure on them to to land every trick and not come off the bike that was Anthony John John’s first

Run so some more of those highlights in slowmo so that was at 54 flare look at his his posture on the bike how he controls it now that’s true a I was going to ask you earlier you know some of these guys how do you go how do you learn these

Tricks well a lot of times they learn them into a foam pit or maybe learn them onto a airbag and then a resi you know there’s sort of a process to learning some of these tricks they don’t just go out and try them onto a landing first

Try and also Anthony has some great facilities close to him he was close to meler so he can use one of the other hurricane parks that bu built there permanently but he also has great coaching I think in France he’s being coached by Patrick gim he he’s also a

Legend in French BMX free uh then also like a whole team around him like we’re talking about uh a mental coach we’re talking about a physical coach we’re talking about doctors dietitians and this is something that every country is doing like if you walk around at a feast event you’re going to

See all these let’s say cruise around Rider um but all in all beautiful run by Anthony sha I mean the professionalism that he rides with it’s great that today there’s so many skate parks around where kids can get a bike and start to learn just little jumps and little things and

Then go from there yeah well hey want to say thank you this been an incredible honor to be here the UCI BMX freestyle World Cup uh I’m Claude Hickman from USA with me is Egon it’s been awesome it’s been awesome like I had a lot of fun

Here here at the island of inoshima and uh I hope we get to do this again I know it’s beautiful here again we want to thank hurricane parks and we want to thank the country of Japan for having us in their beautiful country arato goas arato and we’ll see you at the

Semi-finals number one spot in the world the biggest contest with the best [Applause] crowd the the energy here is unmatched you have to come to experience it even though the contest looks crazy on TV you have to come here to experience the energy uh the only way I can describe it is it’s

The most intense thing you’ve ever seen