Sarah Nicki is a BMX Freestyle athlete who was awarded a Tier 2 Scholarship within the 2024 Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship & Mentoring Program.
Sarah began riding BMX at 7 years old with one goal, to be better than her dad who had recently taken up the sport. She spent her first few years on the bike juggling BMX racing and freestyle with a little bit of mountain biking before deciding to dedicate her time solely on Freestyle at age 12.
In 2019 Sarah attended the Vans Pro Cup in Sydney, riding with the women unscored as she was too young to compete. This opportunity to ride with some of the world’s best fuelled an already growing passion for competing. Sarah finished the 2019 season with a win at the Oceania Championships, her last event as a Junior.
In 2020 & 2021 skateparks were closed for extended periods of time due to the COVID-19 pandemic so Sarah focussed on keeping fit through classes at the gym, competitive cheerleading & building dirt jumps to ride near home. Once skateparks reopened Sarah dedicated her time to preparing herself for her first year of competing in Elite Women in 2022.
The 2022 season started strong with winning a local competition series quickly followed by a win at the Oceania Championships. Sarah backed up this success with World Championships selection and a win at the National Championships. The year concluded with a top 16 finish at the final round of the UCI World Cup and being awarded with the AusCycling BMX Freestyle female athlete of the year award.
In 2023 Sarah and her family moved from Canberra to the Gold Coast to train with the Australian National team. This move proved worthwhile with an Oceania Championship and National Championship win shortly after. Sarah competed in Montpellier, France and in Glasgow, Scotland as part of the Australian team and hopes to continue her success throughout the remainder of 2023 into 2024.
Sarah loves encouraging young athletes through coaching, support and guidance across multiple disciplines of sport. She hopes to be a mentor for the next generation of young athletes and encourage more girls and women to try BMX.
“Being awarded a SAHOF Scholarship was a shock and an honour amongst so many other hard working athletes. This scholarship will allow me to continue to work towards my short and long term goals and achieve more in 2024. I am excited about the extra training and competition opportunities that the scholarship funding will open up and the additional time I will be able to put into coaching and supporting the next generation” – Sarah Nicki on being selected as a Tier 2 Scholarship Holder
Honours & Achievements
- 2023 Australian National Championships – 1st
- 2023 Oceania Continental Championships – 1st
- 2022 Australian National Championships – 1st
- 2022 Oceania Continental Championships – 1st
- 2022 World Championships – 22nd (Youngest Female Competitor)
Social Links | @sarahnickibmx
