Kieran Reilly’s whirlwind rise has not stopped him remembering where he came from.
The BMX boy wonder won World and European gold during a breakthrough 2023 and heads to Paris as one to watch for Team GB. The 22-year-old from Gateshead has become a Geordie icon with his success on the bike, even landing the world's first-ever triple-flair in 2022.
Ever since being one of few kids in the north-east to walk past the football pitch and head for the skate park, Reilly has chosen a road few have dared to travel.
READ MORE: Olympic star nearly drowns as 'wave avalanche comes down on head' before rescue
READ MORE: Millionaire gymnast Livvy Dunne teases Olympic fans in white dress and cheers on Team USA
Join the Daily Star's WhatsApp for the sexiest headlines, showbiz gossip and lots more
The Daily Star is now on WhatsApp and we want you to join us!
Through the app, we'll send you the sassiest showbiz stories, some naught headline and a seismic smattering of aliens...along with the latest breaking news of course.
To join our community, all you have to do to join is click on this link, select 'Join Chat' and you're in!
No one will be able to see who has sign up and no one can send messages except for the Daily Star team. We also treat our community members to competitions, special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners.
If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose Exit group. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
“Right outside my front door was a football field and then a small skatepark,” said Reilly. "When I was a kid it was all about riding around on your bike, that’s all we did. You’d ride to your friend's house, knock on his door and see if he was in.
“Then we started seeing all these older kids doing tricks in the skatepark, so the bikes for Christmas turned into BMXs and I just fell in love with it straight away.”
Will you be watching the BMX on Wednesday afternoon? Let us know in the comments section
Born in the Leam Lane area, Reilly was at the skate park morning, noon and night once he was given a ‘We The People’ BMX bike for Christmas aged eight. But his parents did not always share the same affection for the sport.
“I’d rip my school trousers riding my bike," he said. “They would always say I never had energy for anything other than going on the bike, it wasn’t school, it wasn’t keeping a tidy room, it was just riding.”
If Reilly’s parents weren’t on board, then his friends most certainly were, pushing each other to new heights and attempting new tricks. Some fell by the wayside, ditching their BMXs for scooters, but the competitive fire had been lit in Reilly, whose unwavering commitment started to change his parents’ minds.
“They saw the effort I put in and were so supportive, driving me up and down the country, Scotland to Manchester for all these amateur competitions,” said Reilly, whose first competition was the Urban Games in Whitley Bay aged 11.
“I started to love competing and it just spiralled out of control.
“I left school and did carpentry for three years. I didn’t fall in love with that like I did BMX. It’s always been a hobby to me and now I can do this full-time, thanks to The National Lottery support that I receive. It allows me to really focus on the sport and be at the top of my game, mentally and physically.”
“I pretty much feel like every day I’m living the dream. It’s far from work for me. Going to the skate park and putting in the work, it’s all a good time.”
Now he’s a full-time athlete in BMX freestyle, a high roller in the game of doing triple flips on two wheels, making him favourite for Olympic gold at Paris 2024. He already has a place in the history books, becoming the first rider to perform the much-vaunted triple flair trick.
“It was by far the hardest journey I’ve ever been on, mentally and physically,” said Reilly. Usually when we try a trick in the skatepark you can try it 20 times and keep going. The triple flair was one of those where I could’ve been in the park for eight hours and tried it three times and that was it.
“I couldn’t get off the start ramp, there was just this overwhelming fear. It wasn’t until 8pm on the last day of shooting that I managed to get it done and it was this overwhelming sense of relief, the biggest adrenaline rush I’ve ever had and the only time I’ve ever cried happy tears.”
That experience is one Reilly constantly refers back to as a lesson in refusing to give in, which could come in handy this summer as he seeks to take down Australia’s Logan Martin, who won the inaugural Olympic title and has five X Games crowns to his name.
But Reilly has Andy Murray’s sports psychologist, Rich Hampson, on his side, as well as a lucky barnet. “I went to a different barber and he gave me a taper with no fade, he pretty much gave me a mullet by accident,” said Reilly.
“I got some stick from the team for the whole week but then I won the Euros, so I thought I would keep it out of spite. The next big event was the Worlds and I won with the mullet. I was thinking this is my good luck charm now, so I said I’m keeping it through until Paris.”
National Lottery funding arrived in 1997 and British cyclists have won 81 Olympic and Paralympic gold medals since then. Reilly is determined to add to that number in the French capital this summer.
“I’m pretty set on gold,” he said. It’s once every four years, and as unfortunate as it is I think the Olympics is, it’s an event where you don’t often remember someone who got fourth place.”
National Lottery players raise more than £30million a week for good causes including vital funding into sport – from grassroots to elite. To find out more visit: www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk #TNLAthletes
