“We have been developing this extreme sport in Lithuania for quite a long time, but the fundamental difference began to be felt when this sport became an Olympic sport, which happened after the Tokyo Olympic Games,” Deividas Budkovas, president of the Lithuanian BMX Cycling Federation, told the portal lrytas.lt.
His career as a professional BMX bicycle athlete started in 2008 at one of the events of the Karramba festival.
This year, on August 17, fans of extreme sports flocked to Palanga again, where about 150 not only BMX cyclists, but also skaters and skateboarders tested their strength. Athletes from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, United Kingdom and Germany competed in the event.
“We are trying to actively support the life of this sport,” continued D. Budkov, who himself competed at the festival.
The head of the federation not only competed, but also became the winner of the BMX cycling competition. The guest from Latvia, Krists Kanuks, took the second place in this ranking, and Lukas Žukauskas took the third place.
In the skateboarding competition, Tomas Monkevičius became the champion, Rokas Petravičius took the second place, and Mantas Vaškelaitis took the third place.
The guests of the festival – Adrianas Rybickis, Kristopheris Rudzatas and Juris Jankovskis – celebrated their victories in the roller skating competition.
The Karramba Festival was not the only event for extreme sports fans this August. A little earlier, on August 10, the best Lithuanian BMX cyclists gathered in Avižieni in the Vilnius district, where the Lithuanian BMX cycling championship was held.
In the newly covered Banga Ramp Park, Martynas Lagauskas triumphed in both the Elite and Open groups, D. Budkovs became the national vice-champion, and the bronze medals were won by Karolis Lamsargis (Elite group) and Kristianas Sponsas (Open). ” group).
The owner of the best trick of the competition was the local talent Marek Beliakas.
“I think there are about a few hundred active athletes who are more advanced, and up to a few thousand who are just riding. There are about 50 cyclists actively participating in the competition.
We are trying to increase this amount and popularize this sport with new closed hangars, training programs, and events,” said D. Budkov, who became the national vice-champion, to the portal lrytas.lt.
According to him, the Lithuanian championships are special in that the athletes participating in them accumulate credit points that help BMX cyclists open the door to international competitions.
“We founded an association, Lithuania went to collect international points, we entered the international market. We created an Olympic team”, said the president of the BMX bicycle association about the work achieved in just a few years.
Talents are cultivated by themselves
Lithuania also felt the gust of the increasingly popular BMX cycling sport – this sport became more open due to improved infrastructure conditions.
“By working together for three or four years, from all over Western Europe, we now have one of the best conditions for improvement in Lithuania. Recently, a closed hangar was built in Avižienii (“Banga Ramp Park”), which is of a very high standard.
The infrastructure of open parks is also greatly increased, four or five new parks have also been established in Vilnius, and smaller towns are consulting on how to establish suitable parks. We want Lithuania to be known as a country that is very suitable for extreme sports”, said D. Budkovas.
According to the president of the association, the BMX sports community has not created an officially recognized training system in the world, but the conditions for learning to ride a BMX bike professionally in our country have been created.
“We have been actively training children for several years, and we have achieved the desired results. That training was indoors, in safe environments, with parental supervision. We tested programs, achieved successful results, and trained young athletes,” he added.
Those who want to immerse themselves in professional training will be able to do so starting this autumn – training programs that have already been tested with new trainers will be compiled in Banga Ramp Park.
Expect an extraordinary event
The Lithuanian BMX Association also seeks to strengthen relations with the country’s cycling federation and the Lithuanian National Olympic Committee (LTOK), because without team support it is very difficult for this sport to rise to the international level.
“We are trying to raise that team’s budget, it will allow us to actively participate in international competitions.
We are lagging behind compared to England, France or Australia, Latvians are also doing great work on that. Our level is similar, but there must be great teamwork, the Lithuanian National Olympic Committee must also be involved, we must raise budgets to show results.
We hope that we will not be so far away and will start to “fight” into the strongest 50″, said D. Budkov.
The newly minted Lithuanian BMX cycling vice-champion added that one of the biggest challenges so far is to combine this sport with personal life – limited funding does not allow turning this sport into the main source of income.
However, even limited financial resources do not prevent the association’s ambitions. Already after the winter, D. Budkovas hopes to organize, together with the team, a competition never seen before in Lithuania.
“We have a big goal to make a C1 category competition that has never happened in Lithuania. In them, international points would be awarded to athletes of all participating national teams. They would come to Lithuania with the support of their country and already collect Olympic points”, he said.
The dream is the Olympics
The international goals were also not forgotten, where Lithuania’s honor is usually defended by the country’s best BMX cyclists D. Budkovas and Martynas Lagauskas.
“We will see how the budgets can be reconciled, it is planned to visit tournaments in Switzerland and Dubai. We will see which one of us will go, because Lithuania is not yet a country where a lot of budget is allocated.
It is one of the biggest challenges for us to send athletes to international competitions, because every trip costs money.
Financially, it is very difficult to raise the pace of the competition”, reasoned D. Budkov.
The BMX cycling sport, which made its debut in the Olympic family at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, was also an integral part of this year’s Paris Olympic Games, although we haven’t heard Lithuania’s name in it yet.
However, the president of the BMX bicycle association hopes that the BMX community will also see the Lithuanian tricolor at the biggest sports event in the future.
“It would be unrealistic to send a Lithuanian to the Olympic Games, I don’t know how possible it is. It takes eight to twelve years to prepare an Olympian. We are creating that basis, together with the whole team we have to achieve a common ambition, the goal is the Olympics”, said D. Budkov.
2024-08-25 01:56:36