You were the man who put a stop to Maikel Melero ’ s 14-stop World Championship run , how did it feel to get on top of that podium ?
To finally hear the Czech national anthem again at the end of an event was really nice . It was not really the fact that I beat Maikel , it was more that I am back at the level I wanted to be , and could finally win again , that pumped me up .
It has been more than a year that I could win a Night of the Jumps . I wish I did not had all those stupid little injuries so I could be on top a lot more .
Your aim at the start of the season was the World Championship , considering the injuries you ’ ve had , is that still your motivation ?
Yeah , it has been a while that I won my last World Championship title in 2010 . That is seven years ago . After that I was runner up twice , in 2013 and ’ 14 , and now I think it is time for me to be on top again . Especially after winning X Games gold last year , I want to be World Champion in 2017 .
What are your plans for the second half of the season ?
For Night of the Jumps I want to win every event I show up to ( as do most of the guys here , I think ). But now after this event here in Munich I will focus completely on X Games and Step Up .
Is there anything on your plate besides contest riding at the moment ?
Yeah I did a motivation video in cooperation with ASUS , which you can find on YouTube and Facebook . In future , I want to do more things like this to motivate young people and young riders to do something with their life . I am a little older now and a little wiser and I think that is something I have to do for the younger generation , to spread good vibrations , motivation and energy . I want to show them if they want to do something , everything is possible . I think I am a good role model as the young kid from a small village in the middle of the Czech Republic wining at X Games . Who thought that would ever be possible ?
Let ’ s talk about your own motivation . You crashed many times but you always come back stronger and always willing to fight for the title .
I want to make people excited when they watch me . I don ’ t want to be on the podium being a boring guy just focused on trophies and not on the crowd and the fans . It is the most fun to pump up the crowd and see how they get nuts watching me doing the craziest jumps . This is what gives me the energy . Without the crowd this sport would be dead !
Have the injuries given you any doubts ?
Well , I am just a man and of course once or twice I had doubts in my head , if this is the way of my life . But I love what I am doing and I want to do it at least two or three more years . I still want to get more trophies , ha ha ha hah ! No , that ’ s a joke , like I said , for me it is not about trophies . But nevertheless , my kids are my motivation now , and I want them to see that daddy is winning , and even after an injury daddy comes back stronger than before . I am winning for them now and not for me anymore .
Last year you published a book . What is it about ?
The book is called : Diary of Libor Podmol . It is a book about myself and the freestyle motocross life . It shows six months of how FMX riders travel , how we live and how we party . Sometimes it is funny , sometimes readers have told me that they cried when they read it . Some guys told me that where smiling the whole time . I think it is very emotional and I would like to keep this style for my second book , which I am working on right now . It will be translated in English and released later this year . It is going to be an e-book , because it is easier to sell it that way around the world .
You ’ re ( relatively ) one of the sport ’ s elder-statesmen now , how much have you seen the sport change in your time ?
I think freestyle motocross has changed a lot , and all the riders are talking about this topic a lot lately . Where is the sport heading ? I think it is not the golden age of freestyle right now . The best time in FMX was 5 or 7 years ago .
We are doing way harder tricks , we are working much harder , but these days we are getting less and less attention for it . I am worried about the next generation . Because it seems that in the near future you
Libor Podmol
cannot make a living out of freestyle anymore . That means you cannot ride every day because you need a regular job .
I don ’ t want this sport to die . When you take a look around the globe there are just a handful of young riders who really ride good freestyle and that scares me . It ’ s guys like me or Remi or Tom Pagès who win all the events and we are all in our thirties now .
In general , FMX used to be more fun . The free in freestyle is getting lost . That ’ s why I am writing the books and making the videos , to show the kids that freestyle is still a fantastic sport ! We all need to make freestyle cool and attractive again .
How much pressure is there to learn new tricks instead of having fun on the bike ?
On one hand , if we won ’ t do new tricks the sport would ’ ve been dead five years ago , but these days you don ’ t get that much reward anymore for showing new tricks . That means you think about twice before you go for a dangerous jump . But the sport needs progress and I am very happy for every new trick in FMX .
Tell us a bit about the Podmol Brothers .
In 2014 my little brother Filip switched from racing to freestyle and we thought it might be cool to be a real team . We created our own logo and made some shirts and caps for our fans . For the last two years , we practiced pretty much every day together , and since last year we also do the shows and competitions together . It became a family business and as soon as I retire from FMX I will manage him .
The plan is to become a proper company that helps to push the sport and the kids . In a few weeks , we launch the Podmol App , which is kind of a motivation app . Plus we have the camps where we show the young guns how to start freestyle motocross .
What do you do at the camps ?
We did it last year for the first time with semi-pro and amateur riders . We showed them how to jump a ramp , we took them to the gym and showed them how to stretch and to do the exercises the right way . I tried to teach them how to clear their mind before they hit the ramps . u