Off Script in Brisbane!
The 2026 BMX Racing World championships derailed by wind.
Photos: Navada Photography
Off Script in Brisbane!
The 2026 BMX Racing World championships derailed by wind.
Photos: Navada Photography
The opening day of the 2026 UCI BMX Racing World Championships went off without a hitch. With the early rounds in the books, the qualified riders retired to their hotel rooms to rest for the following day and the opportunity to race for the World title.
But the universe had other plans and tossed the proverbial spanner into the works …
Sunday in Brisbane was windy, persistently windy, and as we know, BMX racing and wind do not play well together. As the Jr. Women lined up for practice, UCI officials were approached by two veteran racers who shared their safety concerns. The UCI then issued a statement stating that they regret ‘to announce that due to strong winds at the venue and in the interest of rider safety, the competition format for the 2026 UCI BMX Racing World Champions in Brisbane, Australia, has been modified’. Racing was to move to the 5m hill, and the second straight pro section would also not be used.
Our understanding is that the plan to switch to the 5m hill was almost immediately rejected by the team managers preferring to instead wait for a weather window for the 8m hill.
We waited …
Later that day the UCI announced a further delay due to the continuing weather conditions.
We waited some more … but it felt like a cancellation was coming, the weather was not improving, and it wasn’t predicted to improve any time soon. We even shared our assumptions on who the declared winners might be should the cancellation come. We’ve been here before after all …
Then the dreaded announcement came … cancelled! ‘Following repeated assessments of the prevailing weather conditions, it was determined that safe racing could not be conducted within the available competition window. The decision was taken with the support of the UCI Athletes’ Commission representative on site, the National Federation Team Managers, and the Local Organising Committee’. The podiums were announced based off times from the previous day’s last run rounds in each class and the BMX social media world lit up!
We do wonder if the 5m hill had of been agreed to on Sunday would we have had racing that night under the Sleeman lights?
But like we said we’ve been here before. The now infamous Bathurst World Cup was called the same way, and for much the same reason. The final challenge day, which included Masters, of the 2024 Worlds in Rock Hill was also called the same way, albeit the cancellation was under different circumstances. There was lightning in the area, which was clearly taken very seriously by the local authorities and resulted in a mandatory site evacuation. We also believe the organisers were operating under agreed finish time constraints with the local community due to noise, lights etc. … but maybe that saga is a story for another day.
I guess what we’re not so subtly alluding to here is the fact that if we knew how this was going to be called before it was, well then, all the stake holders in Brisbane probably, or should have known too. Connor knew in Bathurst, Jesse knew in Brisbane.
The social media shouts of ‘this would only happen in BMX’ are easily disproved with a simple google search. The Andorra Jr. MTB Downhill World Cup suffered the same fate in 2025, as did other cycling events, but its irrelevant … we’re here to race, we’re all here to race, the riders, the fans, the federations and the organisers.
Initially the possibility of a cancellation, and ultimately the cancellation itself in Brisbane was met with at least some understanding by high-profile riders, although there was no doubting the underlying disappointment. France’s Eddy Clerty commented, ‘The safety of the riders is what matters most, let’s not wait for someone to have a lifechanging accident to just cancel it. You can’t predict where the wind will come from, 5 meter or 8 meter will not change anything (the past has proved it), 50+ kmh wind should make the decision’.
Romain Mahieu, also stated that ‘cancelling the race was 100% the right thing to do today due to the weather’ but he went on to make it abundantly clear that he was unhappy with how it came about.
A recurring theme from riders in Brisbane was the disappointment in the channels of communication but its proved hard to pinpoint anything in particular.
Two-time Olympic Champion, Maris Strombergs said ‘Today’s UCI decision was a disgrace to this sport’ and requested the opportunity to sit down with the UCI to discuss. Hopefully Maris follows up and shares what he learns from the potential meeting, we look forward to an update.
Over the years, we’ve been lucky enough to get a glimpse behind the curtain at these big events, and we’re always amazed at the scale … we see them as a massive juggernaut, always moving forward towards the conclusion. We suspect the juggernaut is far from easy to divert or redirect and we often wonder if the Championship and Challenge World Championships were separated, would we have more fluid experience … we’re also assuming this is an unpopular opinion, so we’ll park it here for now.
As the evening rolled on in Brisbane the internet swung into high gear, it was relentless, and vicious at times … but despite the calls for heads to roll, boycotts and endless advice on how and where to run the event in the future, we ultimately saw six riders go home with the coveted Rainbow jerseys, and have their names etched in the history books as the 2026 World Champions. Did they get lucky? Or did they remember Connor in Bathurst, and skew the game to their advantage?
Jesse Asmus posted, ‘I’m a racer at heart, so for me this one doesn’t feel right. Yes, I am able to say I’m now an Elite World Champ, but It definitely feels like there’s an asterisk next to it. Obviously, this wasn’t a decision that I was a part of, and I wish there was a way we could have completed the race day to allow us athletes to race for that jersey. Coming into the weekend, I knew racing being cancelled on Sunday was a possibility, so I really put a lot of emphasis on getting clean and fast laps on Saturday to allow myself to get the best ranking possible coming into a questionable Sunday. Things went in my favour, and I was able to become the World Champ based off placing and lap time in my 1/8th final.’
The backlash will rumble on and on, but we hope lessons were learnt. We hope riders, federations, and organisers have genuine and productive discussions. We hope the same thing is avoidable in the future. We hope.
No one, not the riders, not the fans, and not the organisers, after the years of work it takes to make these events happen, will want to revisit this scenario in the future.
When we look back to the 2026 World Champions we may remember it for all the wrong reasons … but the fact is, Jesse Asmus, Bethany Shriever, Josh Jolly, Renske van Santvoort, Lucas Zhou and Freia Challis are the 2026 World Champions. Remember what it took for them to get to Brisbane …
Record breaking, Four-time World Champion, Beth Shriever concluded, ‘I’ve dreamed about doing this, but obviously not in this way, it’s a crazy, crazy day. I think all of us feel like it’s a bit of a dream right now, but I laid down a solid lap yesterday. I feel like everything happens for a reason. The lap yesterday, I couldn’t believe it, to be honest, how quick it was. We’ll take it, I’m still happy. Obviously, we wanted to do it properly today, but we can’t control the weather, we can’t control the wind, and it was too dangerous for us out of there today.’
Is it too early to say that the dates for France 2027 have been released …
