2018 will see the inaugural Ullevaal Xtreme action sports event take place in Norway on 16th June. Headed up by legendary FMX rider Andre Villa, the event promises to be one of the biggest action sports contests in the world, and might just be able to rival the likes of X Games and Nitro Circus. 

We caught up with with Andre to find out a bit more about this exciting new edition to the action sports calendar.  

Words by Adam Simpson

Photos by: Lars-Kjeld Riedel

Loko Mag: What’s up Andre. We’re stoked to hear about your new event. The initial plans look sick! What made you decide to put on a huge event like this?

Andre: As most of you know, I chose a new career path a few years back, moving away from contests and into creating my own events. With plenty of passion left for the sport, I had an ambitious goal to one day be able to do what I am doing right now – invite respectful riders, to one of the biggest extreme sport events of 2018.

In the recent years there has been less and less FMX contests. This includes the elimination of the Red Bull X-fighters in 2018, and I guess Nitro World Games? Leaving only X-games for a platform to compete competitively on a professionally built course.

Ullevaal Xtreme will be the largest FMX competition in Europe for 2018, and the largest Speed and Style contest ever constructed. Although this is our first year, our expectations are set high as this event has been built by myself, a former FMX athlete. The standards for track design, maintenance, prize money, and athlete accommodations will be some of the highest in the industry.

 

It looks like you’ve got an epic line-up of FMX riders involved with Tom Pages, Josh Sheehan, Clinton Moore, Edgar Torronteras & Maikel Melero all signed up. Is this the complete list or might we see some last minute FMX additions?

Pat Bowden is now confirmed as well! There will also be two more riders added to the list, so stay tuned to hear who the final riders are soon. 

 

Will you be riding yourself at the event or are you going to be in a purely organisational role?

I will be riding the first part of the show. When we move into competing I will be the expert speaker next to my two other speakers.

 

What can fans expect to see from the FMX part of the event?

I think this will hands down be the best event in the history of extreme sports when it comes to the audience experience. We are shaping this show to where the main goal will be to give the audience the optimal experience.

 

Judging is always a hot topic when it comes FMX and action sports contests. Have you developed a new type of judging system for Ullevaal Extreme or will it follow a similar format to X Games / Nitro World Games etc. ?

Yes. We are going to revolutionise the way FMX is judged. We will be running the judging  in corporation with STACT. It will be a completely new system.

 

Is this event a one-off or is the plan for the Ullevaal Extreme to be a regular fixture on the action sports global calendar?

It will be a yearly or every second year event.

 

What makes Ullevaal Extreme stand out from the other events out there?

Even thought we have a 12 camera and a 9 X big screens production, it is the audience experience that will be unique.

The show will have a huge variation from scooter, BMX, speed and style, supercross, FMX and snowmobile. We also have a huge pre-show lined up, in a 7000 meter squared area filled with activities, entertainment and displays. Monster Energy will play a heavy roll here. This will be free for everyone.

 

What has been the hardest part of putting the whole event together for you so far?

It is probably the part of the process where I am right now. I work 15-20 hours a day to make sure that when there is one week left until the event, I will be able to focus fully on the show itself..

We are a staff of around 10 people working on this, and I am at the driving seat with a lot of stuff to follow up. Next time our organisation will be twice as big.

How can fans that can’t make it to the event in person watch the action unfold?

We will drop some of it on ullevaalx.no and it will be streamed live by one of the biggest newspapers in norway. I am sure we will be able to sell this program to international TV station post event.

And Monster Energy & Dirt Shark will make a highlight video!

 

Sounds sick! Best of luck with the event man, we can’t wait to see what goes down.

Thanks man!!

 

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