BMX Freestyle Flatland

Want to watch the world’s best cyclists freestyle on bikes at Glasgow Green in Glasgow? Here’s everything you need to know about BMX Freestyle Flatland

Dates: 08 - 10 August 2023

BMX Freestyle Flatland rider twists and turns while balancing on front pegs

Photo credit: The Agency

Overview

Imagine parkour combined with breakdancing… on a bike. That’s BMX Flatland.
Riders have nothing but their bike and the blank canvas of a smooth surface to style and spin their way to a mesmerising medal-worthy routine that you have to see to believe.

How it works

Glasgow Green is the stage where riders will compete in 2-3 minute rounds to show the very best of their athletic and artistic ability.

It’s a totally unique event, more rap battle than road race, where the crowd gets just as hyped as the competitors. The surfaces may be flat, but the atmosphere is anything but!

Attempting and nailing a variety of tricks in a natural flow is everything for a high scoring Flatland round. As well as raw talent and pure creativity, judges are looking for consistency when it comes to balance, stability and control of both body and bike.

Expect bikes being wrestled into impossible angles, superhuman skills that defy reality, and riders in spin cycles… literally. With the speed the tricks are attempted at, it’s easy for them to get dizzy. But for those that want maximum points, floor touches are to be kept to a minimum.

Every single Flatland run is unique.

So make sure you catch them live at Glasgow Green.

A rider performs a trick with a pink BMX bike

A rider performs a trick while standing on the front peg of their BMX

Celebrations as a new Champion, Irina Sadovnik, is crowned

Matthias Dandois performs a mind boggling trick balanced on the rear peg of his BMX

Glasgow Green

Glasgow Green, Greendyke St, Saltmarket.
Glasgow.
G1 5DB.

A yellow brushstroke wraps around Irina Sadovnik of Austria

Fun Facts!

The only rule is there are no rules… that’s why it’s called Freestyle! Riders are rewarded for creating tricks that judges have never seen before.
From half cab to can can, decades to disconnects, tailwhips to time machines, the names of the tricks are almost as inventive as the tricks themselves.
The first flatland bunnyhop tailwhip was landed in a popular burger chain car park by BMX legend Bill Nitschke, and so was named a "Whopper"!
Traditionally the wheelbase of a flatland BMX bike is much shorter, to make pedalling and spinning much easier. But current UCI World Champion Matthias Dandois, and others, now often opt for slightly bigger street BMX bikes.

Upcoming events in this championship