21 June 2024 – The quest to reach Olympic Games Paris 2024 is approaching its climax in a festival atmosphere in the first-ever Olympic Qualifier Series event in Budapest.

This weekend the final 150 athletes will secure the quota places for the Olympic Games Paris 2024 in four sports – breaking, BMX freestyle, skateboarding and sport climbing – in an urban park at Ludovika Campus, a university campus centrally located in Budapest.

Up to 10,000 spectators per day are mixing with athletes in a festival of music, art, culture and competition. While visitors can try out sports, it’s a vital chance for athletes to show what they are capable of, and book their place in Paris next month.

Day two was packed with preliminaries, ahead of a weekend of finals across all four sports. It was a good day across the events for American athletes. In the Skateboarding Men’s Park qualifiers Tom Schaar and Tate Carew made it a U.S one-two.

While over in the BMX Freestyle, American cyclists excelled in the Park qualifiers. Marcus Christopher had the best total in the Men’s while Tokyo silver medalist Hannah Roberts had the highest total in the Women’s after watching her peers tackle the Budapest course and said:

“Coming here this course is super interesting, I’m seeing what everybody else is doing, and seeing how the ramps look when other people are riding. Here I’m just hoping for another top six so we just move forward and work towards Paris.”

Great Britain’s Jude Jones, who is in a qualifying position (8th) in the Men’s qualifying after two good runs, added:

“Today was about consistency , it was super hot, so many things catch you out if you take your mind off it for one second, we’ve seen that happen on the course with other riders, but i’m just really happy that I kept it cool and kept it consistent and that’s what it took today.”

In Sport Climbing the Boulder & Lead qualifiers continued. Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 champion Alberto Ginez Lopez of Spain led the way into the weekend in Budapest ahead of Adam Ondra (CZE). Meanwhile Chaehyun Seo (KOR) had a good day in the Women’s event to qualify above Brooke Raboutou (USA) and Miho Nonaka (JAP).

The Breaking events in Budapest take place over the weekend with the finals on Sunday: American B-Girl Logistx is one of the top contenders and said:

“Obviously we’ll battle each other but my interaction with the breaking community is more through deciphering, like chilling at events, talking at events, meeting other families. Some of my best friends I met through Breaking, so for me it does feel like a family.”

Her USA teammate B-Boy Jeffro, who was also in the top five at the first Olympic Qualifier

Series in Shanghai, wants to connect with the crowd in Budapest:

“Even when I’m on this big platform I gotta show them the true essence of what I feel. I want the crowd, the audience, the competitors to feel what I feel when I’m dancing, because that’s what’s truly me, and that’s what got me into breaking in the first place.”

All competitions can be viewed live on Olympics.com and the Olympics app with detailed scheduling and additional information also available on Olympics.com.