Ryan Henderson Makes Debut At European Games In BMX Freestyle
Team Ireland’s Ryan Henderson put in two impressive runs as he made his European Games debut in the BMX Freestyle.
The multi-sport European Games is run by the European Olympic Committees with approximately 7000 athletes from 48 countries taking part in the event between 20 June and 2 July. The BMX Freestyle event also doubled as the European Championships.
The Belfast BMX rider was one of the first Irish athletes in action, competing in the BMX Freestyle event, which took place in the Krzeszowice BMX Park just outside Krakow on the 21st June.
The 27-year-old faced a two-hour delay due to rain, but showed no effects of this, opening his first run with his signature double back flip. Henderson landed the whole run, scoring 61.33. The Belfast man also had a clean second run, scoring 63.00 points, for an average of 62.16 and 22nd place overall.
The top-12 riders progressed to the final, with 2019, 2021 and 2022 European Champion Anthony Jeanjean of France taking the top spot with 85.16 points.
Speaking after the event Henderson commented
‘I felt like my ride was really good today, I just missed out on a few bits, the competition was just so hard, everybody managed to stay on. Overall, I’m happy, it was just a tough contest.’