Red Bull athlete George Ntavoutian has rewritten the physics of freestyle BMX on the open waters of the Netherlands. Known in the cycling community as the “Loop Master” after landing a massive 7.5-meter full loop in Trikala, Greece back in 2024, the Greek rider has scaled up the stakes by conquering a world-first: an open loop executed between two separate boats traveling in opposite directions.
In a standard stationary loop setup, a rider relies on fixed visual reference points to gauge speed, compression, and body positioning before dropping in. On Gooi Lake (Gooimeer), near Huizen, those constants vanished.
The stunt required Ntavoutian to launch from a ramp mounted on a forward-moving vessel and land on a second vessel traveling the opposite way. This layout introduced a brutal aerodynamic and physical penalty:
- Momentum Deficit: The forward motion of the takeoff ramp stripped away the backward momentum Ntavoutian needed to bridge the gap and reach the landing deck.
- Speed Compensation: To counter this force, he had to hit the transition significantly faster and pull back much harder than he would on solid ground.
- Dynamic Variables: The run was subject to unpredictable wind, open-water wave chop, and boat stability. Early tests in protected canals offered a land-like baseline, but the open lake proved volatile enough to cause a boat collision during one of the practice attempts.
Three-Seconds of Blind Commitment
The core technical challenge of the run came down to timing and trust. Ntavoutian measured exactly three seconds from the moment he rolled down the drop-in ramp to the moment his tires left the takeoff transition.
Because the boats were crossing paths, the geometry of the stunt meant he had to commit to the drop-in before the takeoff and landing ramps were actually aligned. As he accelerated down the runway, the landing boat was sitting directly beside him, not behind him. He had to launch upside down into a blind void, trusting the two captains would maintain a precise line and a narrow one-meter gap to catch him as he exited the loop.
“I pretty much had to forget everything I typically do and do something new,” Ntavoutian noted after the successful run. “Every time I was dropping in, my body was telling me that it was the wrong timing.”
Deep Roots in the Netherlands
The choice of Gooi Lake for this milestone wasn’t accidental. The Netherlands has a deeply sentimental connection for the Greek athlete. As a teenager traveling with his father—a dedicated mountain bike and road cyclist—Ntavoutian first discovered freestyle BMX at the iconic Area51 park in Eindhoven. It was also the exact country where he pulled off his very first backflip.
Decades later, returning to the Dutch waterways to pioneer a completely new boundary for the sport brings his trajectory full circle.
