How 'BMX in a wheelchair' became an online sensation

Asked to describe the sport in which he is a double world champion, Tomas Woods has it down to an elevator pitch: "It's basically BMX in a wheelchair."

In WCMX - short for wheelchair motocross - athletes perform tricks over 90 seconds to accrue points. Similar to skateboarding and BMX, you get three attempts on the park to perform your best run.

For Woods, discovering the sport changed his life.

"I saw a video of people doing it in America and thought it was super cool, so I emailed my local skatepark asking whether this was something I could try," the 16-year-old from Preston tells BBC Sport at Greystone Action Sports in Salford, where he first tried the sport, used to work part-time and is now a celebrity.

"I came down in January 2020, and in October I was in my first competition. The rest is history."

Woods now shares tips and tricks on Instagram, doing his best to grow the sport beyond its burgeoning online popularity.

Many of Britain's WCMX athletes are popular on Instagram, with Woods, Lily Rice and Ben Sleet attracting thousands of followers.

They post pictures of their travels and competitions, and videos of their tricks and skills - all with their wheelchairs proudly front and centre.

"The community is so vast - Australia, Brazil, all over Europe," Woods says. "Having that online is so important.

"I was riding here at Graystone and had no clue what I was doing. Me and my coach would watch YouTube clips then try and run it back. Now we post tutorials, giving back to the next generation."

When it comes to online popularity however, none of the British athletes can touch the man regarded as the godfather of WCMX.

The sport has grown hugely since Aaron 'Wheelz' Fotheringham - followed by 865,000 people on Instagram - first coined the term in 2000.

"I just threw those letters together - like BMX, but with a wheelchair," he tells BBC Sport.

"Now I can log into Instagram and people are throwing in the craziest [stunts]. I don't know if I imagined this, but it's pretty cool to see the impact."

WCMX is now worldwide and the World Championships are returning to Europe this month for the first time since the inaugural 2019 event in Hamburg. The Swiss city of Bulle is hosting the event from 12 to 14 September.

"Swiss WCMX riders are a totally different breed, so bringing it to them is pretty cool," Fotheringham says. "It's cool to see it bouncing around.

"There are different attitudes to the sport in different countries - it's cool to see people with different takes."

The question WCMX faces now is, what comes next? Is the answer: Paralympics? And if so, how does that happen?

The closest it has come to the Games was when Fotheringham memorably performed in the opening ceremony of the Rio 2016 Paralympics, when he rode down a giant ramp and backflipped through a flaming hoop.

World WCMX president Jo Woods says the sport was aiming to be included at Brisbane 2032, with hopes of a test event at LA 2028.

She says talks are ongoing with World Skate - which runs Olympic skateboarding - over it taking on responsibility, which would boost its Paralympic chances.

However the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) told BBC Sport that there are no plans for test or demonstration sports at the next summer Games and that WCMX has missed the boat for 2032 as well.

An IPC spokesperson told BBC Sport: "To be eligible for inclusion in the Paralympic Games sport programme, a sport must be governed by an International Federation that is either an IPC member organisation or an IPC Recognised Federation.

"WCMX is neither an IPC member International Federation or an IPC Recognised Federation and therefore is currently not eligible to apply for inclusion in the Brisbane 2032 Paralympic Games."

The IPC states any sport seeking consideration must have a minimum of 32 countries from three regions to be regularly practising the sport.

It must also have a recognised governing body capable of running competitions and Paralympic qualifying events and be in compliance with the world anti-doping code, and have a formal constitution and regulations.

In countries like Germany, Switzerland and the United States, there are organised and active bodies. Others, including the United Kingdom, are works in progress.

There also needs to be a codified rulebook for official competitions. Jo Woods said she contacted every country with a WCMX governing body and asked for their rules before she, in her words, "mashed them all together".

Meanwhile double women's world champion Lorraine Truong has produced the first classification schedule, sorting which competitions athletes with varying disabilities should enter - a thorny issue in Paralympic sport.

Tomas Woods, who is aiming to complete a hat-trick of world titles in Switzerland, said the sport is "not where we want it to be, but there are boots on the ground".

Closer to home, access to the sport in the UK remains an issue.

Some skateparks, like Graystone, have WCMX chairs for hire on nights dedicated to the sport, but this is not universal.

A specialist WCMX chair can cost up to £16,000, with Tomas Woods' first chair financed by his parents selling a car. He is now sponsored, but knows others are not so lucky.

"You can't go to Halfords and buy a cheap wheelchair," he says. "Most skateparks will have a rental fleet of skateboards and BMX bikes - to have that for WCMX would be massive."

But the dream of WCMX on the biggest stage remains alive.

"Yeah for sure," says Fotheringham when asked if his creation should be in the Paralympics. "I've heard little things here and there, so this is me personally asking [the IPC].

"It draws a crowd, it is perfect for TikTok, the interest is there. To see it there would be unreal. It's just one of the sickest sports out there."