STELLAR OLYMPIC PERFORMANCES SPARK CRAZE FOR EMERGING SPORTS

Chinese youngsters lead the way in adopting and excelling in novel events

All it took was a BMX ride in 2023 and He Miyao was hooked. So much so that on every single day of her recent winter holidays, the 9-year-old third grader from Shanghai left home before dawn with her father for a more than two-hour-long car journey to Suzhou in Jiangsu province. Once there, she hit the tracks for five hours of practice on a BMX bike.

She pumped her bike up and down the rollers and berms, circling again and again, sometimes lifting the front wheel off the ground to execute a jump.

After completing her training, she made the long journey back home, arriving after dark, only to finish her homework for the day and go to bed around 9:30 pm.