Close to home but still seven hours away, the Canadian National Championships returned but in a whole new setting. Built less than a year ago, the Centre National de Cyclisme in Bromont, Quebec, built an indoor park nestled in the middle of its velodrome which soon became the field of play for the 2024 Canadian National Championships. This year’s podium was an extra exciting one, welcoming brand new champions in both the men’s and women’s categories.
Alexandra Laforest, who started her BMX journey only a year ago today, became the 2024 Canadian National Champion! Laforest told the public “I compete to inspire more women across Canada to try BMX freestyle. Just look at what one year of hard work can do! This is only the beginning for me, at 22, with a new passion.”
Sarah Dinel, an OG in the Canadian women’s scene, took a solid second place after taking a 6-year hiatus from competition. “I was pretty happy with my run, in the end, I got a bit lost in my first run and didn’t get to try the tailwhip but apart from missing my tailwhip in the 2nd run. I was pretty happy with the line I was able to figure out with just 3 hours of riding that bowl” says Dinel. Not far behind is another up-and-comer by the name of Marie-Soleil St-Laurent, a young woman with a bright future in BMX!
Laforest was joined on the podium with boyfriend Maxime Chalifour who took first to become the new Men’s Canadian National Champion. Following Chalifour would be last year’s champion Mike Varga and Olympian Jeffrey Whaley.
Congratulations!
