BMX Freestyle World Cup 2023: schedule, scoring, format and how to follow the season

The 2023 BMX Freestyle World Cup kicks off with its first stop, in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia, from 15-18 February, 2023.

In this edition, big names such as women’s Olympic champion Charlotte Worthington of Great Britain, and Japan's reigning world champion Rim Nakamura in the men’s event will try to dethrone the current World Cup series winners: American silver medallist in Tokyo 2020, Hannah Roberts (champion in 2022 thanks to 2,590 points) and Australian Olympic gold medallist, Logan Martin who finished on 2,800 points.

Although the BMX Freestyle World Cup is not a qualifier for the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympic Games, it will serve as good preparation for the 2023 Cycling World Championships and the 2024 Olympic Qualifying Series, the next two (and last) Olympic qualifiers in this sport.

Below, find key information for the 2023 season in the BMX Freestyle World Cup.

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Format of each World Cup event

• Classification: three groups with heats made up of six athletes competing against each other. Each rider performs two 60-second 'runs', which are added together for a final score. The top 24 reach the semi-final.
• Semi-finals: again, with rounds of six athletes, each one performs two 60-second 'runs' but in this case only their best 'run' counts to make the classification. The 12 best riders go to the final.
• Final: Twelve athletes compete in the final, divided into two groups of six. Each one performs two 'runs' of 60 seconds and only their best 'run' is taken into account for the final result.

Scoring system for the general classification of the World Cup

At each stop of the UCI BMX Freestyle World Cup, riders are awarded points to establish the overall ranking, which are updated after each event. The champions of the 2023 World Cup will be crowned following the last competition in the series.

• The distribution of points depends on the result of each rider in each of the World Cup stops, and is as follows:
  1st position: 1,000 points
  2nd position: 900 points
  3rd position: 820 points

From 4th to 10th place (inclusive): -50 points are subtracted depending on the position. So, a fourth place means 770 points, fifth place is 720... and so on, until reaching 470 points for tenth place.

Check here for the points that are awarded from first to 50th position.

The BMX Freestyle World Cup rankings will be updated on the UCI website.

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Complete schedule of the World Cup 2023

• 15-18 February 2023: Diriyah (Saudi Arabia)
• 17-21 May 2023: Montpellier (France)
• 6-9 July 2023: Brussels (Belgium)