South African BMX Freestyle Park rider Greg Illingworth believes that the addition of the event to the Olympic program will help to spark interest locally.

The United Kingdom-based South African will be participating in the annual Park Lines BMX Tournament in Modderfontein, Johannesburg on Saturday. This is the second edition of the event after the inaugural one was hosted in Benoni last year.

The event has attracted 50athletes comprising of 26 professionals and 24 amateurs, two of whom being international riders. Professional riders will be competing for a share of R35000 and other prizes. The event will commence at 10am and free entry for all.

BMX made its Olympics debut at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and it has been part of the event ever since. It was originally a racing event, but a new freestyle category was added at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics that were held last year due of COVID-19.

Meanwhile, the 2022 UCI, BMX Racing World Cup season begins tomorrow where the event will take place in Glasgow, Great Britain. This season’s event will see Mariana Pajon and Simon Marquart defending their titles. Rounds 1 and 2 of the event will stream live on Olympics.com according to

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