Do You Have What It Takes to Become the 2019 Red Bull Rookie of the Year?

This year, the FMBA and Red Bull are once again looking for the best Mountain Bike Slopestyle talent out there! For 2019, Rookie of the Year proceedings will be expanded with a video contest. Riders will have to compete throughout the season at FMBA events to be considered for the Red Bull Rookie of the Year Award on the FMB World Tour and in addition will be able to submit a video to the Red Bull Rookie Award Best Line contest, which will count as an extra result. The rider honored with the title will be treated to a trip to kick-off of the 2020 Crankworx FMBA Slopestyle World Championship (SWC) season at Crankworx Rotorua, New Zealand.

Crankworx Rotorua is traditionally the kick-off of the SWC season and it’s the first indication for riders and fans alike to see who’s been putting in the work during the off-season and has been working the hardest to make sure that they are at their best when they drop in for their first FMB World Tour Diamond contest of the season. In 2020, the SWC riders will be joined by the 2019 Red Bull Rookie of The Year Award winner, who will travel to the city of Rotorua in New Zealand to compete against the world’s best riders, but the way there will definitely be challenging.

For the full FMB World Tour Calendar, click here

Rookies wanting to showcase their skills at Crankworx Rotorua will have to place high in FMB World Tour contests during the 2019 season, with their best two results of the full 2019 FMB World Tour season counting towards the Rookie of the Year Ranking. FMB World Tour Gold Events like GlemmRide Slopestyle in Austria (4-7 July), the Fox US Open Slopestyle in the USA (20 July), O’ Marisquino in Spain (11 August) and the Big White Tom van Steenbergen Invitational (12-13 July) in Canada will reward riders with the highest points, but they are also among some of the toughest contests out there, where rookies will compete against seasoned Slopestyle pro’s. With more than 30 Silver & Bronze FMB World Tour contests still on the calendar for this year, including four different FMBA National Series in Great Britain, Switzerland, Germany and North America, there are plenty of points still to go around!

In addition, rookies will be able to submit their Red Bull Rookie Award Best Line, a video contest in which riders must show their skills doing three consecutive tricks on one line – they can contain more tricks if the rider has a bigger dirt line/slope line at their disposal, but the video must be 1 minute in length or shorter. These video submissions will be judged in the same way as FMB World Tour Silver Events, meaning that the rider with the Best Line will add 300 points to their ranking. Video submissions to the Red Bull Rookie of the Year Best Line will be accepted from 1 August to 31 October and riders are encouraged to share their Best Line on Instagram, and to make sure their videos are seen, the following hashtags should be included: #ROTYBestLine, #FMBWorldTour and #RedBullBike.

For the first time in FMB World Tour history, rookies have a separate ranking on the FMB World Tour website, showing just how they stack up against their fellow riders.

For rules, submission guidelines and more information on the Red Bull Rookie of the Year Award and the Best Line video contest, click here.

Criteria to be considered for the award

• Athlete must have a current FMB World Tour License or an FMB Free Amateur License
• Athlete must not yet have competed at a Diamond event unless via Wildcard in the current (2019) season to be ranked on the FMBA Red Bull Rookie Rankings
• Athlete must be 16 and older and below age 22 (ranges 31.12.2002 – 01.01.1998) to be eligible for participation
• Every athlete that is eligible for participation will be considered for the FMBA Red Bull Rookie Rankings with his result(s)

If you are an athlete and still haven’t signed up yet, you can sign up for your license here: https://fmba.memberpro.net/main/body.cfm?menu=register

Who will follow in the footsteps of Rookie of the Year Award winner Lucas Huppert, who took the title in 2018 and rise above the competition to punch their Wildcard ticket to New Zealand?

The Red Bull Rookie of the Year title will be awarded to the #1 ranked rider on the FMBA Red Bull Rookie Ranking on November 15th, the closing date of the Red Bull Rookie of the Year contest. Apart from the Wildcard to Crankworx Rotorua (which includes flights and accommodation), the FMBA will also award the winner with a free FMB World Tour license for 2020.