The Jumping Ambassador

Achim Kujawski never planned ahead, but relied on his intuition instead. Today he’s one of the best BMX riders in the world and one of the most important supporters of the scene. And he’s prepared to lead his sport into a new era.

Whenever Achim Kujawski talks about his hobby of “meeting friends”, it’s noteworthy for two reasons. For one, these meetings occur on the highest BMX ramps in the world – typically at X Games events. And for the other, by friends Achim means the best BMX riders in the world, like Jamie Bestwick, Kevin Robinson, Chad Kagy and Mat Hoffman. The latter, also known as “The Legend”, is partly to thank for making Achim Kujawski what he is today: not only one of the best Vert pros in the world, but also one of the most important promoters of BMX. When Mat Hoffman brought the German on board his company in 1998, Achim’s latent management skills quickly came to light. He’s organised the BMX part of the X Games with the Hoffman Sport Association ever since. “Back then,” Achim shares about the start of his second career, “I had a feeling that things were really going to start happening.”

Pivotal Metre, Pivotal Contest

Achim had the same feeling once before, in 1993, when he shot up two-and-a-half metres from the ramp on his BMX instead of the usual one-and-a-half metres. “It was like I’d been shoved. All of a sudden it clicked. Because of this one metre, I suddenly had more time and freedom in the air for my tricks. A little while later I made the jump to the pros.”
Until then Achim’s career had little remarkable about it. As a kid he watched in the movies how E.T. rode in a BMX across the sky on his way “home”, got his own BMX shortly thereafter, jumped tree roots in the woods and hung out at skating parks. “My friends started jumping at contests for fun. I always used to just watch until they finally convinced me to compete with them.” That was at the Cologne Youth Park in 1990, and Achim jumped better than all his friends.

Great Form, Great Ambition

Since 1993, Achim’s name can be found regularly in the final standings of major international BMX contests, and usually he makes the top three. In 1993, for example, he took second in the German Championship, third in 1997 and first in 2003. In both 1994 and 2003 he jumped to third place in the World Championship, and he also achieved the same result at the 2004 Asian X Games. And that’s despite his role as both rider and organiser. “BMX lives from television coverage. In my job I work closely with the TV stations. That’s why it’s a great opportunity to promote our sport.” And it’s not the only opportunity. Achim is also co-founder of the first international BMX association “IBMXFF”, in which he is an athletic representative and with which he aims to realise his dream: establishing BMX as an Olympic discipline. “It should happen in 2008. That’s our goal, but it won’t be easy”, Achim concedes. “And it will be a lot of work.” It’s not an issue that he’ll have to cut back on competitions. “It’s important to take on new challenges. Even if I jump in fewer contests – I still do it with the same cool feeling.” And in the usual great form as well: at the largest competition of the Baltic countries in January 2005, the “POP!Session” in Estonia, he jumped to first place.