The 2023 edition of the European Games will begin on Wednesday 21 June. After Bakou 2015 and Minsk 2019, the multidiscipline continental event organised by the European Olympic Committee (EOC) will be held in Krakow-Małopolska (Poland).
This major event, which will finish on 2 July, will involve a total of 29 sports disciplines such as MTB Cross-Country and BMX Freestyle Park, races that will also award the respective continental titles and which will be even more exciting since they are part of the qualifying criteria for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The BMX Freestyle Park races will take place on 21 and 22 June in the brand new Krzeszowice skatepark, with among others the first three from the 2022 World Championships: Anthony Jeanjean (France), winner of the three titles awarded so far, Kieran Reilly (Great Britain) and the Croat Marin Rantes, as well as the women Iveta Miculyčová (Czech Republic), the German Kim Lea Muller and the French rider Laury Perez. One to watch in the men’ events will be the Briton Declan Brooks, Olympic gold medallist at Tokyo 2020, meanwhile in the women’s all eyes will be on Lara Lessmann and the winners of the two first continental titles: the Briton Charlotte Worthington (winner of an Olympic title at Tokyo 2020) and the Swiss Nikita Ducarroz.
The MTB Cross-Country races will be held at Hill Park in Krynica-Zdroj on 25 June.
In the women’s, the current European champion, the French rider Loana Lecomte, will have as her main opponents, the three best from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, the Swiss Jolanda Neff, Sina Frei and Linda Indergand, as well as the young Austrian Mona Mitterwallner and the Dutch Anne Terpstra, Celyn Del Carmen Alvarado, Puck Pieterse, winner of the European Championships in 2022, MTB and Cyclo-Cross Under 23 champion and Fem Van Empel, current World and European Cyclo-Cross Champion. Others to watch out for will be the multiple French champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot.
In the men’s race, notable contenders will be the Dane Sebastian Fini, Ondrej Cink (Czech Republic), the Spaniard David Valero, the Italian Luca Braidot and the former European champion Lars Foster, one of the key riders in the Swiss team that will also include Alexandre Balmer and Andri Frischknecht.
Enrico Della Casa, President of the Union Européenne de Cyclisme: «These Games are an important opportunity to celebrate sporting excellence and unity between European countries through sport.
We are looking forward to awarding the MTB and BMX Freestyle European titles at this major event, disciplines that are on the Olympic programme and which throughout their history have enthused cycling fans and others and will be broadcast to the European public thanks to the extensive TV coverage of the Krakow-Małopolska Games.
I would like to thank the European Olympic Committee, its President Spyros Capralos, the Secretary General Raffaele Pagnozzi, and the Organising Committee for giving us this extraordinary opportunity. I am certain that these Games will be unforgettable in the history of European cycling and will leave a lasting impression on all those involved.
I would also like to thank all the athletes, Olympic Committees and National Federations and hope that the 2023 European Games will be celebration of sport and friendship with sport’s great power to unify.»
2023 European Games website – click here
#EuroBMXPark23 info and entry lists – click here
#EuroMTB23 info entry lists – click here
