Gold Coast chosen to host first Australian BMX qualifying event for Paris 2024 Olympic Games

Queensland’s Gold Coast Sports Precinct, beside Metricon Stadium, will host the first BMX Freestyle Olympic qualifying event for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games this December.

The Urban Sport Fest three-day event will bring over 150 of the world's best freestyle BMX riders to the Gold Coast in what is being dubbed Australia's first dual action sport and music festival combination.

Bringing a UCI BMX Freestyle World Cup to the Gold Coast provides not only an extraordinary historic opportunity with the 2024 Paris Olympics in sight but offers a multitude of economic, tourism and infrastructure benefits for the future planning on the Gold Coast of the Brisbane 2032 Olympics.

Matt Burgess, founder of Urban Sport Fest, says he is not only excited to bring to the Gold Coast this first-of-its-kind event but is incredibly proud that this will be the launching pad for BMX athletes to qualify for the Paris Olympics in 2024.

"The inclusion of the Gold Coast BMX World Cup component as an Olympic Qualifying event means Urban Sport Fest ticket holders will see the best BMX Freestyle riders in the world competing to take the crown of our own Olympic Champion Logan Martin and Natalya Diehm, our national champion and Olympic Finalist in Tokyo. Australia's support in their own backyard will be crucial to their success in December."

In another first, the action-packed, family-friendly sports and music festival will be the first year equal prize money for both male and female BMX riders will be offered, bringing a major spotlight on women's action sport globally.

"By bringing together action sports, gender equality, music and culture – we're going to provide one of the most pulsating and adrenaline-packed events the Gold Coast has ever experienced," says Burgess.

Gold Coast Mayor, Tom Tate, enthused "to be the city chosen to host the first Australian BMX Freestyle Olympic Qualifier is a massive coup for the Gold Coast and for our local and Queensland-based athletes.

"This puts us well and truly on the world stage, and with the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics on the horizon, our star is certainly on the rise.''

Queensland Academy of Sport Chief Executive, Chelsea Warr said the fact that the Gold Coast has been approved to not only host the Urban Sport Fest but that it was also the first Paris 2024 Olympic Qualifier, will certainly provide a competitive advantage to Australian riders as they prepare for Paris.

Warr adds "In the lead up to Tokyo the QAS, in partnership with AUS Cycling and City of Gold Coast, invested $1 million to secure a world class Freestyle BMX Course after seeing firsthand the competitive advantage the replica Tokyo course provided our Australian riders, with Logan Martin bringing home Olympic Gold.

“The new course will not only attract the best Australian BMX Freestylers to Queensland to train, but they can now compete on home soil, on a course they know firsthand and in front of Australians, against their fellow international competitors. It will be incredibly inspiring and thrilling to watch and sets the scene for what future Olympic and Paralympic Games may look like."

Urban Sport Fest will run from 9th -11th December at Gold Coast Sports Precinct with an inclusive, affordable, and action-packed offering across three days.

Urban Sport Fest is supported by the Queensland Government through Tourism and Events Queensland and features on the It's Live! in Queensland events calendar

Image top: Urban Sport Fest Credit: theagency/ @fiseworld