USA BMX Celebrates 2021 Season as the Largest and Most Successful in the History of the Sport
Freestyle. Alligator pits. Barspin — BMX is booming. In fact, USA BMX has indicated the 2021 season was the most successful in BMX competitive history.
"The 2021 season will go down in the BMX history books as possibly the most significant in the history of the sport," stated Shane Fernandez, USA BMX's president.
"Racing hit the highest participation levels of all time along with the largest membership base ever, while freestyle had an amazing second year, more than doubling in size. In addition, every program under the ABA umbrella sets new records for matrix measurement. With the Tulsa headquarters and Hardesty National BMX Stadium nearing completion and a 24th Grand Nationals becoming the largest BMX race ever held, we are closer to making Tulsa home of the sport of BMX.”
With 49 states and 20 different countries represented, USA BMX welcomed more than 3600 participants at this year’s Grand Nationals. For the first time at the Grands, USA BMX hosted the STACYC World Championship, where 32 young riders participated from 10 states. The USA BMX and STACYC partnership is designed to give kids ages three to seven the chance to ride on their STACYC bikes (rather than traditional BMX bikes) at USA BMX facilities.
BMX and GFG
GFG and BMX teams around the country meet the challenges of today's highly technical racetracks — and speed straight past the competition to the podium.
The USA BMX Foundation program reached more than 200,000 kids through bike-centric school activities. The program curriculum includes Track Modeling, a BMX STEM bike program, and the incentive based Read to Ride program to keep kids engaged.
On average, USA BMX National event participation increased by 25% above 2019, and the series included several new destinations and first-time hosts.
If WHYY’s Jennifer Lynn had to describe BMX, she would say, “It’s just going down a big starting hill, pedaling as fast as you can, and hitting these jumps to the bottom, and just doing a full-on sprint for like 35 seconds, but with obstacles in the way. With all that combined, you have seven other people next to you. If you were to actually try it, a lot of people, they would get on the bike, and they can’t even go over the jumps. It sounds like a video game. It’s a tough sport for sure. And physically tough, mentally tough, and emotionally tough.
USA BMX Freestyle
The inaugural series launched last year as a grassroots initiative with video submissions and virtual judging for the up-and-coming, artistic talent that is BMX Freestyle. For 2021, USA BMX Freestyle successfully organized a six-stop series that crowned eight National and 68 State Champions.
The 2021 “Finals” event grew by 124 percent from 2020 on the participant level, and two-thirds of the 50 states were represented at the state level for digital events and the national level live for in-person events. The USA BMX Freestyle membership grew by 418 percent in one year, while the social media following grew by 1100 percent.
With BMX progressing on every level, so many more girls are racing now. The ceiling for BMX has never been higher.
