BMX FREESTYLE: Entering 2018 as the inaugural BMX Freestyle World Champion, having his sport added to the Olympic Programme for Tokyo 2020 and winning gold and silver at the 2018 X Games have all contributed to a big year so far for BMX Freestyler, Logan Martin.
The 24-year-old took out the BMX Park title - an event that will make its Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020 - and claimed silver in BMX Dirt at this years’ X Games in Minneapolis, to take his total X Games medal haul to one gold and five silver medals.
After only having silver in his X Games cabinet, Martin was "beyond stoked" with his first X Games gold.
"I've wanted this moment for so long... definitely happy to pull the runs I had planned and to walk away with the gold medal is an amazing feeling," Martin said on social media.
Fellow Aussies Brandon Loupos, Vince Byron, Jackson Strong, Sabre Norris and Kyle Badock also took to the X Games podium, putting Australia on the map with six X Games medals in total.
Loupos nabbed gold in BMX Dirt, while Byron also took out the gold in BMX Vert.
There was another golden performance by Strong in the Moto X and 13-year-old Norris took out the silver in the Open Women’s Skateboarding Category as the youngest competitor in the competition before Badock added a BMX Park bronze to Australia’s medal haul.
Martin burst onto the scene in 2016, winning silver as a rookie at the X Games in Austin. This debut performance made Martin the first rookie to earn a BMX Park medal since Brazil’s Diogo Canina in 2008.
The following year, the newcomer claimed the 2017 UCI BMX Freestyle crown in China before his career began to skyrocket.
Martin said the addition of Freestyle BMX to the Olympic Programme will give his sport and the athletes the recognition they deserve, and at just 24 years-old, he looks forward to being able to dominate in a previously unattainable arena.
“I was so stoked when I found out that Freestyle BMX had been added to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games,” Martin said.
“It definitely shows that our sport is in fact a professional sport and now people within and outside the BMX world will start to treat it that way.”
The cycling discipline of BMX Freestyle sees riders navigate through ramp-filled courses and perform tricks that are scored based on originality, difficulty, style and execution.
As with any Olympic sport, the amount of commitment and dedication required is incredible, and for BMX it is no different. Spending up to 4 months a year away from home, the motivated rider shared;
“A usual day for me would be spending up to an hour in the gym in the morning, followed by 3-4 hours on my bike during the day and then finish with a 45-minute high-intensity functional workout in the afternoon.
“The work never stops for me, I know I need to keep working and doing everything I can, each and every day to stay at the top. It all comes down to the drive and determination you have within yourself.
“I don’t believe in taking things for granted, it’s important to work hard for what you have and what you want.”
The Queenslander started riding when he was 12 years-old, after his family moved closer to a skatepark. If that move didn’t happen, this World Champion may not have evolved.
“I only started riding when I was about 12, so it wasn’t something I thought I wanted to do before then,” he said.
“We moved to a new house and ended up living close to a skatepark which my brother started going to, and I started joining him after school. I made some friends and began riding.
“After a few years, I noticed my riding was progressing really quickly. I realised that if I focused on taking the sport more seriously, I could turn it into more than just a hobby, and the rest is history!”
Martin’s advice to youngsters who want to pursue BMX as a sport is to have fun and ignore the doubters.
“My biggest piece of advice to kids out there who want to compete in BMX professionally would be not to worry about what other people think.
“Everyone starts somewhere, as long as you are having fun, that’s the most important part.”
Liana Buratti
olympics.com.au
