Frederick races to 3rd BMX world title
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NEW ULM -- Another year, another UCI World BMX Title for Cole Frederick.
Frederick, just 12, won his third world title in late July after taking first place in Zolder, Belgium.
While the competition gets more and more difficult with each passing year, Frederick dominated again on the world stage.
He's had an impressive career so far, but each title means something different.
"Every single time I actually do win, I feel more accomplished," he said.
What's most impressive is that he won the title racing flats, something that's new to him. This means that he was forced to use different shoes and pedals while competing and it was difficult for him to keep his feet on the pedals at times.
"There was more riders and UCI has a rule where riders 12 and under have to race flats," Frederick said. "I didn't have much training on that, and it was also a more technical track. It was really hard, because your feet don't stay on the pedals so you have to train your feet to stay on them."
He said that the heat was in the 100s the day of the championship race, which made it difficult for him.
Besides the adjustment with the pedals, he's at that age now where his competition is experiencing rapid growth rates from year to year.
"Everybody is getting bigger, getting stronger," Frederick said. "Everyone is developing new skills, so it's getting harder, especially for other people in other countries because you don't know how they're doing. So it's kind of hard to compare."
The sixth-grader doesn't have much of an offseason. He'll continue to race until around Thanksgiving and he also competes at indoor track facilities in the Twin Cities. He'll also go to Arizona for a training camp this year, but for the most part, he just heads to the track in New Ulm to do most of his training.
"Sometimes I do workout, I usually go to the track [in New Ulm] on Mondays and we try to do some sprints," he said.
He said that his trip to Belgium lasted about a week and him and his dad did some sightseeing. He said that the chocolate and Belgian Waffles were his favorite memories of the trip. They also stopped in Iceland for a day before coming back home.
For now, he's playing Pop Warner football and working on training for next year. He'll compete in a few more races this fall before wrapping up the season at Grand Nationals in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Thanksgiving.