Corby BMX world and European champion Kieran Reilly going for gold at Paris Olympic Games

After becoming the first rider to land the world's first-ever triple-flair in 2022, Kieran bagged world and European gold during a breakthrough 2023, and will represent Team GB.

The 22-year-old Gateshead-born champion has dedicated his life to BMX after he chose the sport over football.

His talent was soon spotted and he eventually took the plunge to leave the North East and move to Corby to train at the world-class Adrenaline Alley skatepark.

He said: “Right outside my front door was a football field and then a small skatepark.

“When I was a kid it was all about riding around on your bike, that’s all we did. You’d ride to your friend's house, knock on his door and see if he was in.

“Then we started seeing all these older kids doing tricks in the skatepark, so the bikes for Christmas turned into BMXs and I just fell in love with it straight away.”

On his eighth Christmas, dad Darren and mum Leanne gave Kieran a ‘We The People’ BMX bike, putting up with him constantly ruining his school uniform.

Kieran said: “I’d rip my school trousers riding my bike.

“They would always say I never had energy for anything other than going on the bike, it wasn’t school, it wasn’t keeping a tidy room, it was just riding.”

With support from his parents, driving him to competitions across the UK – his first competition was the Urban Games in Whitley Bay aged 11.

After leaving school Kieran trained to be a carpenter but after three years, with thanks to funding from the National Lottery, he became a full-time athlete.

He said: “I started to love competing and it just spiralled out of control.

“I left school and did carpentry for three years. I didn’t fall in love with that like I did BMX. It’s always been a hobby to me and now I can do this full-time, thanks to the National Lottery.

“I pretty much feel like every day I’m living the dream. It’s far from work for me. Going to the skate park and putting in the work, it’s all a good time.”

With a much-vaunted triple flair trick in the history books next to his name, he is a favourite for Olympic gold at Paris 2024.

Kieran said: “It was by far the hardest journey I’ve ever been on, mentally and physically,” said Reilly.

“Usually when we try a trick in the skatepark you can try it 20 times and keep going. The triple flair was one of those where I could’ve been in the park for eight hours and tried it three times and that was it.

“I couldn’t get off the start ramp, there was just this overwhelming fear.

“It wasn’t until 8pm on the last day of shooting that I managed to get it done and it was this overwhelming sense of relief, the biggest adrenaline rush I’ve ever had and the only time I’ve ever cried happy tears.”

That experience is one Reilly constantly refers back to as a lesson in refusing to give in, which could come in handy this summer as he seeks to take down Australia’s Logan Martin, who won the inaugural Olympic title and has five X Games crowns to his name. But Reilly has Andy Murray’s sports psychologist, Rich Hampson, on his side, as well as a lucky hairstyle.

He said: “I went to a different barber and he gave me a taper with no fade, he pretty much gave me a mullet by accident.

“I got some stick from the team for the whole week but then I won the Euros, so I thought I would keep it out of spite.

“The next big event was the Worlds and I won with the mullet. I was thinking this is my good luck charm now, so I said I’m keeping it through until Paris.”

Since National Lottery funding arrived in 1997, British cyclists have won 81 Olympic and Paralympic gold medals. Reilly is determined to add to that number in the French capital this summer.

He said: “I’m pretty set on gold. It’s once every four years, and as unfortunate as it is I think the Olympics is, it’s an event where you don’t often remember someone who got fourth place.”

To claim gold in Paris, Reilly will have to get past Australia’s Logan Martin, who won the inaugural Olympic title and has five X Games crowns to his name.

“Logan is arguably the most dominant rider we’ve ever seen.

“I’m lucky in that I’m young and I have a lot more time ahead of me than him, so my aim is to catch him.

“He was seen as unbeatable for a long time; I beat him in Glasgow when we both put down our best runs and that gave me a lot of confidence. I don’t see why I can’t do that again in Paris and try to take his gold.”

Kieran added: “I think my style has definitely influenced a lot of riders.

“They’re all trying to replicate the double flair now because I feel like I pioneered this new age of competing. I’ve accidentally promoted it, and the style is now being taken on by others, so we’ve just got to keep pushing.”

The Urban Park at Place de la Concorde in the heart of Paris will provide a stunning backdrop for the BMX freestyle cycling due to take place on July 30 and 31.