Kingston brother-sister BMX riders place at Worlds

By Nicholas Zeller-Singh Kitsap News Group • August 14, 2023 1:30 am
David Christensen courtesy photo Kingston's Wyatt Christensen ranks third in the 11-year-old World BMX rankings.

Kingston brother and sister Wyatt and Elinor Christensen cycled through competition at the BMX World Championships Aug. 6-13 in Glasgow, Scotland.

Wyatt finished third in the UCI World BMX Championships out of 104 11-year-olds. Wyatt only lost one lap in the entire event, which occurred in the main event.

Elinor finished 10th out of 43 girls in the 9-year-old division.

“Having a home track with such a positive environment like Lincoln Park BMX makes training for big races much more fun,” Wyatt said. “I work hard on and off the track, and always make sure that I’m having fun doing both.”

Elinor said: “Having the most fun is what makes me good at BMX. I also work hard to make my skills better like jumping and carving the turns.”

Wyatt started competing at age 5 while Elinor began racing strider bikes at 3 years old.

“I love seeing my friends from all over the world and traveling to new places I’ve never been before,” Wyatt said.

Elinor added: “I like to see different places and make new friends wherever I go. I made a lot of new friends this year in Scotland and even traded jerseys with them.”

The trip to the World Championships was extra special as Elinor enjoyed eating all the new foods while Wyatt enjoyed spending time with his grandma because “she has been battling cancer and this was the first time she was healthy enough to travel with me.”

Elinor has some time off but plans to heal and continue improving before her next race. “I had a setback with a crash and a broken arm two months before the race,” Elinor said. “I was able to train for a few weeks before leaving, but if I can stay healthy next year I should be in better race shape and get back into the main event.”

Wyatt will be fighting for the top ranking in Tulsa, OK in November after being placed third out of 6,113 boys in the USABMX rankings. “I am going to focus on training more for the next Worlds,” Wyatt said. “There will be a lot of very fast Americans but I feel I have a great chance at being World Champion on a track that I have raced on before in my home country.”