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The official presentation of the 15th Anniversary of Extreme Barcelona has been presented with the support of the Ajuntament de Barcelona and the Consell Català de l’Esport in the Plaça Universitat de Barcelona
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Queen Saray Villegas, Julian Molina, Guifré Obradores, Juan Galcerán and Kadoer have represented all the competitions that will be present at Extreme Barcelona
The crowded Plaça Universitat in the city of Barcelona hosted the official presentation of Extreme Barcelona, which in 2023 celebrates its 15th anniversary in an iconic setting for urban sports, the Parc del Forum, with free admission. Its trajectory shows that it has become a consolidated event rooted in the city of Barcelona, and is currently the third longest running urban sports event in the world.
Extreme Barcelona will take place on 15, 16 and 17 September at its usual location and will feature national and international athletes seeking to qualify for the Paris Olympics in 2024. The press conference was attended by David Escudé, Sports Councillor of the Barcelona City Council, Aleix Villatoro, Director of the Consell Català de l’Esport, and Víctor Casanovas, Director of Extreme Barcelona.
On the occasion of the 15th Anniversary, Extreme Barcelona will have more sports and activities than ever, including Olympic urban sports such as BMX, Breaking, Basketball, Skateboarding and an international Scooter competition with the official signature of World Skate, the International Skating Federation. As representatives of some of these disciplines, in the event we have been able to enjoy professional athletes such as Queen Saray Villegas BMX athlete, Julian Molina rider of Para BMX, Guifré Obradors Scooter world runner-up, Juan Galcerán, Skate Manager and Kadoer, Head Judge of the Spanish Breaking Championship who have given statements.
Once again this year, this event has the support of the Barcelona City Council and the Secretaria General de l’Esport, in a firm commitment to urban sports, which have made their way to become part of the Olympic programme and have gained more and more followers and young people interested in learning and mastering these disciplines.
Extreme Barcelona has 5 Olympic disciplines (many of them debuted in Tokyo) and hundreds of athletes travel from all corners of the world to the Parc del Fòrum to fight not only for gold medals, but also for this Olympic qualification. To go into detail, Victor Casanovas, director of Extreme Barcelona, added: ”Who would have told us in 2008 when we started this adventure, that these sports that still had no official status, nor were within any International Federation and 15 years later will find themselves with Olympic Qualifiers, a very good sign of how urban sports are growing”.
Extreme Barcelona is an event marked in the calendar of many young Catalans who love urban sports. This great sporting event has the commitment of the Secretaria General de l’Esport. Its top representative, the director of the Consell Català de l’Esport Aleix Villatoro, mentioned that: “the 15th anniversary is a very good figure and we have to congratulate everyone who has made it possible from the Govern de la Generalitat we promote urban sport from grassroots sport throughout the country where these people have to have facilities, adequate facilities, elements of training and improvement. We support this event which is relevant for Catalonia, Barcelona and internationally”.
Extreme Barcelona would be nothing without its athletes, the main protagonists of the event, who did not miss the press conference to talk about their career and show some of their best tricks. They are just some of the almost 500 athletes who will be putting on a show for the parks this weekend. World scooter runner-up Guifré Obradors, from Navàs (Barcelona), also shared some words: “Competing in Barcelona is always different, you have the people at home who support you and motivate you, you feel how they shout your name and it’s a very nice experience. I hope to have a good time and if I can win, all the better, Extreme Barcelona is a very exciting experience”.
Another modality that will score points in the Extreme with a view to the next Olympics in Paris 2024 is BMX. It is one of the most spectacular competitions of the Extreme Barcelona and one of its great representatives, Queen Saray Villegas has commented that: ”This competition is very exciting because we can have a lot of fun and where also being a C1 we can get points to qualify for the Olympics where my expectations are to enjoy and share this with my teammates and give everything to make the podium”.
Julian Molina, BMX rider and representative of the first Para BMX Street adapted competition with international riders explained that: “Being in Barcelona means a lot of things, I’ve been doing BMX for more than half my life, it’s very nice to come to Barcelona and to be able to compete here in an adapted competition with athletes from eight different countries is very special. It’s more than a sport, it’s a lifestyle”.
As a representative of Breaking we have Angel Patiño, Kadoer, who talks to us about his experience as a Bboy and Head Judge and the evolution of Breaking until it reaches the Paris 2024 Olympics: ‘‘Breaking was a street dance and it is incredible to see how it has become a very recognised sport that allows a young audience to follow the Olympics. We are working very hard so that Breaking has this worldwide recognition, together with the Catalan and Spanish dance federations so that young people can achieve their dream of reaching the Olympics. In Extreme Barcelona we will have the Spanish Breaking Championships where the best will qualify for the World Championships in Belgium which is just after and there they will fight to enter the Olympic Series where we hope that among the 16 who qualify for the Olympics, there will be Spanish representation”.
Joan Galceran talked to us about skateboarding, since he has lived both sides of the Extreme Barcelona coin: on the one hand, competing in the street plaza in more than 5 editions; and as one of the key pieces of the sports team as Skate Manager at the moment. He shared a few words saying that: ‘‘skateboarding is evolving these last years with the Olympics, so being part of the skate coordination team is an honour. This weekend will be an incredible show at the Forum Park and it is very important that people go to see it, as we will have very good riders and it will be a show that has to be seen”.
David Escudé, Sports Councillor of the Barcelona City Council closed the presentation of the event and explained that: “Here we have another of the great events of the most sporting Mercè! Extreme Barcelona is back and, moreover, with a very special edition where we will celebrate the 15th anniversary of this great urban sports competition. Good luck to all the athletes who will compete these days in our city, some of them looking to qualify for the Olympic Games in Paris. We won’t miss it!
The event ended with an exhibition of the athletes demonstrating some scooter, BMX and skateboard tricks, which are just a small sample of everything that will happen at Extreme Barcelona this weekend.