Kenny Belaey

Kenny Belaey
	Kenny Belaey at Sportief Gent 2010
Personal information
Full name	Kenny Guillaume Leda Belaey
Nickname	The Magician
Born	26 January 1983 (age 40); Eeklo, Belgium
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	79 kg (174 lb)
Team information
Discipline	Mountain bike — Trials
Role	Rider
Major wins
	UCI Trials World Champion — Men's Elite 26" (2002, 2005, 2006, 2010); UCI Trials World Champion — Men's Junior 20" (2000, 2001); UCI Trials World Champion — Men's Junior 26" (2000); UCI Trials World Champion — Men's Cadet 20" (1998);
Medal record
Representing Belgium
Mountain bike racing
UCI World Championships
BIU World Championships

Last updated May 09, 2023

Kenny Belaey (born 26 January 1983, in Eeklo, Belgium) is a Belgian mountain bike trials cyclist. He holds the UCI record of most podium spots at a world championship in the discipline of trial.

Thanks to his titles, professionalism, style and ability to interact with the crowd Belaey is one of the biggest names in the bike trials world scene. The Belgian has been at the cutting edge of his sport for more than ten year now, achieving his first 26 inch UCI Elite crown in 2002.^{[ citation needed ]}

Kenny is always proactive in promoting his sponsors and his sport as well. The last couple of years Kenny has been traveling extensively to perform shows all over the world, making appearances on TV and working with photographers and journalists to create trial features for the world’s leading bike and sports magazines.^{[ citation needed ]}

History

Belaey started in competition in 1992, inspired by his dad Ronny who was a motorcycle trialist. Hard work, athletic skills and fierce natural talent started to pay off soon. In 1996 he made his international debut in Spa-Francorchamps coming home fifth. Another two year later (1998) he claimed his first cadet world champion title. He wrote history in 2000 when he won the Junior Worlds in both 20” and 26”. Kenny continued to make a name for himself by dominating the 2005 and 2006 seasons, taking back-to-back world titles. He even made it a "triple" in 2005 racking up the World, European and World Cup overall titles. His ability to clear seemingly impossible obstacles and pull off amazing saves has earned him the nickname "The Magician".^{[ citation needed ]}

Titles

UCI Cadet World Champion: 1998^[1]
BIU Cadet World Champion: 1999^[2]
Junior World Champion: 2000 (20" & 26" on same day), 2001^[1]
Junior European Champion: 2000^{[ citation needed ]}
Elite World Champion: 2002, 2005, 2006, 2010^[1]
Elite World Cup Winner: 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2009^{[ citation needed ]}
Elite European Champion: 2005, 2006, 2011^{[ citation needed ]}

For the sport

More than anyone he’s pushing to help developing the sport and reaching a more mainstream audience. Early on in 2009 Belaey has set off on a five-week global trek crossing from Spain to England, Cleveland, California and Hawaii in the US. His encounters with biking legends places and athletes influencing the sport will be the backbone of a forthcoming TV series to be aired on the ‘Extreme Sports Channel’. Featured sporting celebrities include: Toni Bou (moto trials star), Dave Mirra (X-games BMX legend), Hans Rey and Ot Pi (bike trials pioneers), Danny Macaskill (Scottish street riding ace) and many more.^{[ citation needed ]}

In 2011 the 4th and 5th episode will go on air for Belgian TV and the Extreme Sportschannel, showcasing his adventures during a road trip through South Africa. In 2011 he also decided to organize the UCI world cup rounds in Belgium, having the biggest media outcome in the history of the sport with live international TV coverage… In the years that follow he spends a lot of time in the USA and it's in 2018 that founds women shred, a women focused MTB event. 1 year later in 2019 he founds the Bentonville Bike Fest, an all inclusive bike festival with close to 20.000 visitors. A festival that champions the MTB capital of the world in Northwest Arkansas!^{[ citation needed ]}

Personal life

Belaey enjoys playing the guitar, listening to music, watching movies, fishing, and snowboarding.^[3] He is married to Barbara Matthys and together they have a son named Cesar Belaey.^{[ citation needed ]}

Related Research Articles

Jukka Vastaranta is a Finnish professional cyclist from Tampere. From 2003 to 2006 he rode for the Dutch team Rabobank but in 2007 he switched to the Belgian continental team Jartazi–Promo Fashion. In 2008 he rode for the mountain bike team Brink-Ten Tusscher, but after a good start had to retire again due to prolonged health problems.

Greg Minnaar is a South African World Champion mountain bike racer competing in downhill cycling. He has won four world championships, the second most amongst still active racers, and third all time behind Nicols Vouilloz's seven titles. He currently competes in the UCI Downhill MTB World Cup. Minnaar has the most world cup wins ever, with 23 career victories. He rides for the Santa Cruz Syndicate team.

Sanne Cant is a Belgian racing cyclist, who currently competes in cyclo-cross for UCI Cyclo-cross Team IKO–Crelan, and in road cycling for UCI Women's Continental Team Fenix–Deceuninck. Cant's cousin Loes Sels is also a professional cyclist.

Dale Holmes is a Retired British professional "Old/Mid School" Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer whose prime competitive years were from 1983 to 2009. He now lives in San Diego, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maja Włoszczowska</span> Polish mountain biker

Maja Martyna Włoszczowska is a Polish mountain biker. She is the 2008 and 2016 Olympic silver medalist in cross-country cycling. She is a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Nino Schurter is a Swiss cross-country cyclist who races for the SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing Team.

Pauline Ferrand-Prévot is a French multi-discipline bicycle racer, who rides for UCI Elite Mountain Bike team BMC MTB Racing in cross-country cycling. and has signed for Ineos Grenadiers for 2023. Ferrand-Prévot has also competed in road bicycle racing and cyclo-cross during her career, winning the world title in each discipline. During the 2015 season, aged just 23, she became the first person ever – in the history of cycling – to simultaneously hold the World road title, World cyclo-cross title and World cross-country mountain bike title.

Paula Gorycka is a Polish cross-country mountain bike, road and cyclo-cross cyclist with two medals from the MTB World Championships and one medal from the MTB European Championships.

Stéphane Tempier is a French cross-country mountain biker who races for the Trek Factory Racing. He won the silver medal in the junior cross country at the 2004 world championships in Les Gets, France. At the 2005 world championships he won the bronze medal in the cross country team relay, riding the men's under-23 leg for the French team.

Hugo Donais is a Canadian retired cyclist who specialized in downhill mountain biking, four-cross and BMX.

Petra Henzi is a retired Swiss professional mountain biker. Throughout her sporting career, she has won numerous Swiss national championship titles, and more importantly, a total of four prestigious medals in women's cross-country race at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships. Henzi later represented her nation Switzerland, as a 38-year-old senior, at the 2008 Summer Olympics, and also rode professionally for more than five seasons on Fischer-BMC Team, before retiring from the sport in early 2010.

Roel Paulissen is a Belgian former professional mountain biker. Throughout his sporting career since 1993, he has won more than ten Belgian national championship titles, mounted top-five finishes at both the European and World Cup series, and claimed a total of four medals, including two golds, in men's cross-country race at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships. Paulissen also represented his nation Belgium in four editions of the Olympic Games, where he competed in men's mountain biking since it officially became an Olympic sport in 1996. By the start of the 2010 season, Paulissen had been overshadowed by a doping issue after he tested positive for clomiphene that sidelined and effectively ended his mountain biking career. Having lifted a two-year suspension from doping in early 2013, Paulissen came out from his short retirement to join and race professionally for the Italian team Torpado.

Marek Galiński was a Polish professional mountain biker and road racing cyclist. During his sporting career, he won nine Polish national championship titles and a silver medal in men's cross-country racing at the 2003 UCI World Cup series in Sankt Wendel, Germany. Galinski also represented his nation Poland in four editions of the Olympic Games, where he competed in men's mountain biking from the time that it officially became an Olympic sport in 1996. Galinski raced professionally for more than five seasons on the JBG2 Professional MTB Team. After his retirement from the sport in 2011, Galinski worked as an assistant coach of both Polish and Russian mountain bike national teams. Upon his return from a training camp in Cyprus on 17 March 2014, Galinski was suddenly killed in a car accident near Jędrzejów.

Jack Carthy is a trials rider who competes in the 26-inch category. He is the reigning UCI elite world champion and UCI World Cup champion.

Thomas Pidcock is a British cyclist who currently competes in the cyclo-cross, mountain bike and road bicycle racing disciplines of the sport for UCI WorldTeam Ineos Grenadiers.

The 2017 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships was the 28th edition of the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships. As in 2016, the championships in the various disciplines were held at separate events. The world championships in four-cross were held at Val di Sole, Italy, on 24 and 25 August 2017, alongside UCI World Cup events in cross-country and downhill. The world championships in cross-country and downhill were held in Cairns, Australia, from 5 to 10 September 2017.

The 2021 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships were held from 25 to 29 August 2021 in Val di Sole, Italy.

Nat Ross is an American professional cross-country mountain bike racer. Ross became the first American to win a professional race on a twenty-nine inch mountain bike. Ross was inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in 2008. Ross is a two-time World Champion with multiple National Championship titles. Ross is a pioneer in mountain bike innovation with regards to racing.

The 2022 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships were held in the French commune Les Gets from 24 to 28 August 2022.

References

1 2 3 "Mountain Bike World Championships previous results". UCI. Archived from the original on 2 August 2012. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
↑ Coope, Robin. "1999 World Biketrial Championship Results". Archived from the original on 26 November 2013. Retrieved 7 April 2012.
↑ Amer, Sameen. "Magic On Two Wheels – Kenny Belaey". Weekly Magazine. The News International. Archived from the original on 12 March 2012. Retrieved 6 April 2012.

External links

Official website

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[uciWCpreviousresults-1] 1 2 3 "Mountain Bike World Championships previous results". UCI. Archived from the original on 2 August 2012. Retrieved 6 April 2012.

[BIU1999-2] Coope, Robin. "1999 World Biketrial Championship Results". Archived from the original on 26 November 2013. Retrieved 7 April 2012.

[sam-3] Amer, Sameen. "Magic On Two Wheels – Kenny Belaey". Weekly Magazine. The News International. Archived from the original on 12 March 2012. Retrieved 6 April 2012.

[1]

[2]

[3]