Team GB BMX star Kieran Reilly aims to wow crowds after showing off tricks to Luke Littler and Bruno Guimaraes
KIERAN REILLY has thrilled Olympic judges, Luke Littler, Newcastle captains and graced the hallowed St. James’ Park turf but this weekend he faces one of his biggest challenges.
Team GB’s Olympic silver medal-winning BMX freestyler will be the headline act at Manchester Central for Red Bull Featured on Saturday evening.
Sixteen of the world’s best tricksters on two wheels – eight men, eight women – will attempt to land a world-first trick in front of a crowd of up to 2,500.
Reilly, 23, may have not recognised Fifa boss Gianni Infantino when he received his Olympic medal off him on a blistering hot day in Paris.
But he has plenty of fans within football given what he can do in the air off bumps and ramps.
For Newcastle’s opening home game of the Premier League season, a 1-0 win over Southampton in August 2024, Reilly fulfilled “a childhood dream” as he was invited on the pitch to celebrate his exploits.
He told SunSport: “I was definitely nervous going out there. Especially when it was a 0-0 game and we weren’t playing very well. But then we went 1-0 up before half-time.
“Being recognised in your home town is really important. I was lucky enough to go to Newcastle’s training ground and do a roving reporter style piece of content.
“I talked to a lot of the players. The most intrigued by BMX was Bruno Guimaraes. He was super intrigued, super nice.
“Bruno got pretty excited when I said I do BMX and then instantly started asking about what we do with competitions, if we ever compete in Brazil, do we travel a lot.
“One of the players in the team also collects and has a load of old BMX bikes. He was talking about riding burners and old school BMXers back in the day.
“Jacob Murphy was the only one who hit me with a follow on Instagram afterwards.
“I said to him: ‘You’re the only one in the team who follows me at the moment. You need to tell the boys in the dressing room to sort it out.’”
Reilly – a Red Bull athlete – has not shaved off his curly mullet yet but it is a little bit shorter than last summer.
Nonetheless, he will still be recognisable with his helmet on when he lines up for this new adrenaline-fuelled event which is being tagged as the “world’s most progressive BMX contest – (with) no rules, no limits”.
There are four features – High Air, Sub Box, Quarter Pipe and Jump Box – and the judging panel includes Britain’s 2021 Olympic champion Charlotte Worthington.
Last week he promoted the event by posing with Luke Littler, who was in the city ahead of his appearance at the Premier League night, where he lost to Luke Humphries in the semis.
Reilly said: “The idea is to compete for one single, best trick throughout and then there will be an overall winner.
“City centre-wise, nowhere has seen anything of this scale before. It’s the first of a kind in that regard.
“You might have watched it at Place de la Concorde and you were maybe 100 feet away from the action. At this event you will be right next to the riders.
“It’s a much higher risk, higher reward style of event. Eight of the best riders in the world will perform one trick and I like that idea.
“It’s an idea which is really, really progressive for the sport. It’s basically giving riders the stage and opportunity to try new things, push their limits and put eyes on the sport.”
To buy tickets for Red Bull Feature, please visit: redbull.com/gb-en/events/red-bull-featured/red-bull-featured-tickets