With a spectacular and flawless last run, Timo Schulze was crowned German BMX Champion. His last two tricks tipped the scales for the win.
Timo Schulze is the new German champion in the BMX park discipline. On Saturday (July 8th, 2023), the 24-year-old, as the last driver in the competition, pushed past Paul Thölen by a few tenths of a point thanks to a run peppered with extreme difficulties. Third place went to only 17-year-old Tom Clemens.
The eight best athletes in the qualification went on the hunt for points on the bunker forecourt of the Duisburg landscape park. After their runs, you could see the exertion in the oppressive heat in the blazing sun.
Schulze fails in the first round
Tom Clemens achieved the first high rating of the competition in his first run. With a smooth ride and clean execution of the tricks, he convinced the judges and received 85.20 points. However, he waived the maximum difficulties. He was followed by Paul Thölen, who showed the highest jumps of the competition in his runs. He also built numerous transfers, i.e. a jump from one object to another. His performance was rated 88.80 points.
Timo Schulze, who is currently also fighting for the Olympic qualification, was the best in qualifying and therefore the favourite. Although he showed the highest difficulty, he could not land several tricks and was initially only fourth.
Thölen submits, Schulze counters
In the second round, Clemens was able to defend his place and thus secured bronze. Thölen started the course second to last and showed a run similar to his first run. Thanks to some additional combinations, he was able to improve to 91.60 points.
Now it was up to Schulze, who had to risk everything and did so. Especially at the end he got the decisive counters. With a tailwhip flair (backflip on the ramp with a 180 degree rotation and additional full rotation of the BMX around the handlebars) and a frontflip (forward flip) he nailed two tricks no one else attempted in the competition. With 92.00 points he was able to just overtake Thölen.
How does BMX Park work?
All athletes have two rounds of one minute each to present their best trick combinations, and the best run is ultimately counted. The difficulty of the tricks, their execution and the use of as many obstacles as possible in the park are evaluated by the three-person jury. A maximum of 100 points can be achieved.