15 Best and Most Famous BMX Racers of All Time

Our ranking of the 15 best BMX racers of all time, led by Mariana Pajón, Māris Štrombergs and Beth Shriever, with every Olympic champion since 2008.

BMX racing became an Olympic sport in 2008, and every Olympic champion since then is on this list, along with the riders who ruled the UCI World Championships before the Olympic era. Each profile lists country, birth date and the titles that matter, followed by what made the rider stand out. Below the ranking you will find the best racer in each category, the records and the riders who just missed the cut.

How We Ranked the BMX Racers

• Olympic medals: gold at the Games is the biggest prize in BMX racing since 2008.
• World titles: elite UCI world championships in BMX racing, the sport’s main title before and after 2008.
• Consistency: World Cup overall titles and medals across many seasons.
• Impact: firsts, records and how the rider shaped the sport in his or her country.

Riders from before 2008 never had an Olympic chance, so for them world titles and their record against the best of their era count most. Men and women are ranked on one list. The order is our own judgment, not an official one.

The 15 Best BMX Racers at a Glance

#	Racer	Discipline	Career
1	Mariana Pajón	BMX racing	elite from 2010
2	Māris Štrombergs	BMX racing	until 2018
3	Beth Shriever	BMX racing	elite since 2018
4	Joris Daudet	BMX racing	elite since 2011
5	Niek Kimmann	BMX racing	elite since 2015
6	Alise Willoughby	BMX racing	professional from 2006
7	Sam Willoughby	BMX racing	until 2016
8	Connor Fields	BMX racing	until 2022
9	Shanaze Reade	BMX racing and track cycling	from 2002
10	Laura Smulders	BMX racing	since 2012
11	Saya Sakakibara	BMX racing	elite since 2018
12	Kyle Bennett	BMX racing	1997 to 2012
13	Dale Holmes	BMX racing	1988 to 2006
14	Anne-Caroline Chausson	BMX racing and mountain biking	BMX until 1993, again 2007 to 2008
15	Thomas Allier	BMX racing	1993 to 2008

#1 Mariana Pajón

• 🚴 Discipline: BMX racing
• 🎂 Born: October 10, 1991, in Medellín, Colombia
• 🌍 Country: Colombia
• 🏆 Career Highlights: 2× Olympic champion (2012, 2016), Olympic silver (2020), 3× elite world champion (2011, 2014, 2016), 2× world time trial champion (2013, 2015), 3× Pan American Games gold (2011, 2019, 2023)

Pajón won her first national title at five and her first world title, in an age group race, at nine. She carried the Colombian flag at the 2012 opening ceremony and then won the women’s BMX final in London in 37.706 seconds. A year earlier she had won her first elite world title and was named Colombian Athlete of the Year.

In Rio in 2016 she defended her title and became the first Colombian with two Olympic gold medals. She added silver in Tokyo, three elite world titles and three Pan American Games golds. Known in Colombia as the Queen of BMX, she has a BMX track in Medellín named after her, where she won the 2016 world title.

#2 Māris Štrombergs

• 🚴 Discipline: BMX racing
• 🎂 Born: March 10, 1987, in Valmiera, Latvia
• 🌍 Country: Latvia
• 🏆 Career Highlights: 2× Olympic champion (2008, 2012), 2× elite world champion (2008, 2010), world championship silver (2011)

Štrombergs won the 2008 world title in Taiyuan and a few months later became the first Olympic champion in BMX racing in Beijing. He won the world title again in 2010 and took silver in 2011. His longest coaching partnership was with Ivo Lakučs.

In London in 2012 he defended his Olympic title, and he is still the only man with two Olympic golds in the sport. Thousands of fans greeted him in his hometown of Valmiera after London. He announced his retirement on November 13, 2018.

#3 Beth Shriever

• 🚴 Discipline: BMX racing
• 🎂 Born: April 19, 1999, in Leytonstone, England
• 🌍 Country: Great Britain
• 🏆 Career Highlights: Olympic champion (2020), 4× elite world champion (2021, 2023, 2025, 2026), 2× European champion (2022, 2025), junior world champion (2017), MBE (2022)

Shriever worked part time as a nursery teaching assistant to fund her training after UK Sport decided to support only male BMX riders on the road to Tokyo. At the Tokyo Olympics she beat defending champion Mariana Pajón for gold, then won the world title the same year. She had been junior world champion in 2017.

Her 2022 European title made her the first BMX racer to hold Olympic, world and European titles at once. In Paris in 2024 she won all six races to reach the final but finished last after being boxed in. She came back to win world titles in 2025 and 2026, a record four elite world titles for a woman.

#4 Joris Daudet

• 🚴 Discipline: BMX racing
• 🎂 Born: February 12, 1991, in Saintes, France
• 🌍 Country: France
• 🏆 Career Highlights: Olympic champion (2024), 3× elite world champion (2011, 2016, 2024), European Games gold (2015), European champion (2017)

Daudet won all twelve events on the European BMX tour in 2011 and the world title the same year. He won a second world title in 2016 and raced at the Rio Olympics that year without winning a medal. He also won the European Games gold in 2015 and the European title in 2017.

In 2024, at 33, he won both the world title and the Olympic gold medal in Paris, leading a French one and two ahead of Sylvain André. His three elite world titles equal the men’s record. He was later made a Knight of the Legion of Honour.

#5 Niek Kimmann

• 🚴 Discipline: BMX racing
• 🎂 Born: May 20, 1996, in Hardenberg, Netherlands
• 🌍 Country: Netherlands
• 🏆 Career Highlights: Olympic champion (2020), 2× elite world champion (2015, 2021), world time trial champion (2016), 2× World Cup overall winner (2018, 2019), 2× European champion (2019, 2023)

Kimmann won the 2015 world title at 19, in his first elite season, a year after winning the junior world titles in racing and time trial. In 2019 he defended his World Cup overall title with 1,180 points, the highest total in the series’ history. He is coached by former world champion Liam Phillips.

Days before the Tokyo Olympics he crashed into a track official in training and fractured his kneecap. He still won the gold medal from lane 8, ahead of Kye Whyte, and was made a Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau. He added a second world title the same year.

#6 Alise Willoughby

• 🚴 Discipline: BMX racing
• 🎂 Born: January 17, 1991, in St. Cloud, Minnesota, United States
• 🌍 Country: United States
• 🏆 Career Highlights: Olympic silver (2016), 3× elite world champion (2017, 2019, 2024), World Cup overall winner (2020), 7 elite world championship medals

Willoughby raced as Alise Post until her marriage. She turned professional at 15 in 2006 and became the first woman voted Rookie Pro of the Year by BMXer magazine readers. Under UCI age rules she was still too young to race the elite class at the 2007 world championships.

Known as The Beast, she won Olympic silver in Rio in 2016 and world titles in 2017, 2019 and 2024. She went to Tokyo as reigning world champion but crashed in the semifinals. She is coached by her husband, Sam Willoughby.

#7 Sam Willoughby

• 🚴 Discipline: BMX racing
• 🎂 Born: August 15, 1991, in Bedford Park, Australia
• 🌍 Country: Australia
• 🏆 Career Highlights: Olympic silver (2012), 2× elite world champion (2012, 2014), world time trial champion (2014), 2× junior world champion (2008, 2009)

Willoughby left Adelaide for California at 16 with a backpack and his bike, staying with other riders until racing paid for a motel room. He won junior world titles in 2008 and 2009. He won his first elite world title in Birmingham in 2012.

He won Olympic silver in London, a second world title in 2014 and finished sixth in the Rio final. On September 10, 2016, a training crash in Chula Vista left him a tetraplegic and ended his career. He has since coached his wife, Alise Willoughby.

#8 Connor Fields

• 🚴 Discipline: BMX racing
• 🎂 Born: September 14, 1992, in Plano, Texas, United States
• 🌍 Country: United States
• 🏆 Career Highlights: Olympic champion (2016), 2× world time trial champion (2012, 2013), 2× World Cup overall winner (2013, 2020), Pan American Games gold (2011)

Fields won the Pan American Games title in 2011 and finished seventh at the 2012 Olympics. He won the world time trial title in 2012 and 2013. In Rio in 2016 he became the first American to win Olympic gold in BMX racing.

He won the World Cup overall in 2013 and 2020. In the Tokyo semifinals he crashed heavily off a jump into the first turn and could not finish. He retired on August 11, 2022, and now coaches.

#9 Shanaze Reade

• 🚴 Discipline: BMX racing and track cycling
• 🎂 Born: September 23, 1988, in Crewe, England
• 🌍 Country: Great Britain
• 🏆 Career Highlights: 3× elite world champion (2007, 2008, 2010), world time trial champion (2011), 2× track world champion in the team sprint (2007, 2008), junior world champion (2006)

Reade won the elite world title in 2007 and in the same year won the team sprint at the track world championships with Victoria Pendleton, only weeks into her track career. In 2008 she defended both titles. She had already won the junior BMX world title in São Paulo in 2006.

She went to Beijing as the favourite for the first Olympic women’s BMX race, but crashed on the final berm after clipping Anne-Caroline Chausson’s rear wheel. She won a third world title in 2010. In 2011 she added the world time trial title.

#10 Laura Smulders

• 🚴 Discipline: BMX racing
• 🎂 Born: December 9, 1993, in Nijmegen, Netherlands
• 🌍 Country: Netherlands
• 🏆 Career Highlights: Olympic bronze (2012), elite world champion (2018), world time trial champion (2014), 5× World Cup overall winner (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022), 3× European champion (2014, 2017, 2018)

Smulders won Olympic bronze in London at 18. She won the world time trial title in Rotterdam in 2014 and the world title in Baku in 2018. She was European champion in 2014, 2017 and 2018.

Her five World Cup overall titles show how consistent she has been over a whole season. She has won elite world championship medals from 2014 to 2026, including bronze in Brisbane in 2026. Her younger sister Merel also races BMX.

#11 Saya Sakakibara

• 🚴 Discipline: BMX racing
• 🎂 Born: August 23, 1999, in Gold Coast, Australia
• 🌍 Country: Australia
• 🏆 Career Highlights: Olympic champion (2024), 3× World Cup overall winner (2023, 2024, 2025), 2× world championship silver (2025, 2026), Sir Hubert Opperman Trophy (2024, shared)

Sakakibara was born on the Gold Coast to a mother of Japanese heritage. She started BMX at four after watching her older brother Kai race. At the Tokyo Olympics she crashed in the semifinals and did not reach the final.

She came back to win the World Cup overall in 2023, 2024 and 2025. She won the Olympic gold medal in Paris in 2024. She shared Australia’s cyclist of the year award for 2024 with Grace Brown and took world championship silver in 2025 and 2026.

#12 Kyle Bennett

• 🚴 Discipline: BMX racing
• 🎂 Born: September 25, 1979, in Conroe, Texas, United States (died October 14, 2012)
• 🌍 Country: United States
• 🏆 Career Highlights: 3× elite world champion (2002, 2003, 2007), first rider named to the US Olympic BMX team (2008)

Bennett, nicknamed Butter for his smooth style, turned professional on December 28, 1997, and won that day’s NBL Christmas Classic at 18. He won elite world titles in 2002 and 2003. He broke his collarbone in 2003 and again in 2004.

He had knee surgery in late 2006 and came back to win his third world title in 2007. In 2008 he was the first rider selected for the first US Olympic BMX team. He died in a truck accident on October 14, 2012, at 33.

#13 Dale Holmes

• 🚴 Discipline: BMX racing
• 🎂 Born: October 6, 1971, in Heanor, England
• 🌍 Country: Great Britain
• 🏆 Career Highlights: 2× elite world champion (1996, 2001), British Cyclist of the Year (1996), European BMX Hall of Fame (1998), British BMX Hall of Fame (2025)
• 🏛️ Hall of Fame: British Cycling Hall of Fame (2009)

Holmes turned professional at 16 in 1988 and won his first professional race at the British championships that year. He won the 1996 elite world title in Brighton, the first UCI BMX world championships, in front of a home crowd. That year he was named British Cyclist of the Year.

He won the 1993 ABA Grand Nationals in the A Pro class and rode for GT from 1993 to 1999. He added a second world title in 2001. He retired from elite racing in late 2006 to focus on four-cross mountain biking and team management.

#14 Anne-Caroline Chausson

• 🚴 Discipline: BMX racing and mountain biking
• 🎂 Born: October 8, 1977, in Dijon, France
• 🌍 Country: France
• 🏆 Career Highlights: Olympic BMX champion (2008), 13 elite mountain bike world titles, 5 straight downhill World Cup overall titles (1998 to 2002)

Chausson raced BMX until 1993 before moving to mountain biking. There she won 13 elite world titles in downhill, dual and four-cross, including eight straight downhill titles. She is often called the greatest female downhiller of all time.

When BMX racing joined the Olympics, she returned to the sport in 2007. At Beijing in 2008 she won the first Olympic women’s BMX final. The favourite, Shanaze Reade, crashed on the last berm after clipping Chausson’s rear wheel.

#15 Thomas Allier

• 🚴 Discipline: BMX racing
• 🎂 Born: March 24, 1975, in Fontenay-aux-Roses, France
• 🌍 Country: France
• 🏆 Career Highlights: 2× elite world champion (1998, 2000), 2008 Olympian

Allier started racing at 14 in 1989. In the United States he was the NBL National No. 1 Pro in 2000. He won the elite world title in Melbourne in 1998 and again in Córdoba, Argentina, in 2000.

He was part of the French team when BMX racing made its Olympic debut in Beijing in 2008, where he went out in the quarterfinals. His 2000 title had made him the first man to win two elite UCI BMX world titles. Dale Holmes matched him a year later.

Best BMX Racer by Category

If you want one name per category, these are our picks.

Category	Racer	Why
Woman	Mariana Pajón	Two Olympic golds, an Olympic silver and three elite world titles.
Man	Māris Štrombergs	The only man with two Olympic golds in BMX racing.
Active rider	Beth Shriever	Olympic champion and a record four elite world titles for a woman.
Before the Olympics	Kyle Bennett	Three elite world titles between 2002 and 2007.
Consistency	Laura Smulders	Five World Cup overall titles.
Late bloomer	Joris Daudet	World and Olympic champion in 2024, at 33.

BMX Racing Records and Marks

The numbers that define the riders on this list.

Record	Racer	Mark
Most Olympic gold medals	Mariana Pajón and Māris Štrombergs	2 each
Most Olympic medals	Mariana Pajón	3 (2 gold, 1 silver)
Most elite world titles, women	Beth Shriever	4 (2021 to 2026)
Most elite world titles, men	Kyle Bennett and Joris Daudet	3 each
First Olympic champions	Māris Štrombergs and Anne-Caroline Chausson	Beijing 2008
Highest World Cup points total	Niek Kimmann	1,180 (2019)

Honorable Mentions

These racers just missed the top 15:

• Donny Robinson: won the 2009 elite world title and Olympic bronze in Beijing in 2008.
• Mike Day: won Olympic silver in the first men’s BMX race at Beijing in 2008.
• Liam Phillips: won the 2013 elite world title for Great Britain.
• Caroline Buchanan: won the 2013 elite world title and also won world titles in mountain bike four-cross.
• Stefany Hernández: won the 2015 elite world title and Olympic bronze in Rio in 2016.
• Bubba Harris: won the 2005 elite world title and entered the National BMX Hall of Fame in 2023.
• Twan van Gendt: won the 2019 elite world title for the Netherlands.

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