If you look good, you compete good: Urban sport trendsetters on how style pays off in gold

Pop culture, training gym, and a mother’s sewing machine: Style inspiration is everywhere

Whether it is the children’s section in a department store or the closets of fellow athletes, urban sports stars pluck style tips anywhere they go.

For BMX freestyle Olympic champion Charlotte Worthington, a key source of inspiration is the music that was playing in the park when she first jumped on a scooter as a teenager.

“My style is probably stereotypical, but I really just love that pop-punk style. I listen to a lot of Blink 182, Machine Gun Kelly’s new stuff. I have many tattoos. I have hair inspired by Avril Lavigne and her music,” Worthington said. “BMX is definitely about expressing yourself. It’s very creative. And that branches into the filming, the photography, the rider themselves, their clothing, their music taste, how their bike looks, how their style looks on course.”

Sport itself can also be an inspiration for style.

For example, for BMX freestyle Olympic champion Logan Martin, the clothes he picks are a way to showcase his athletic DNA.

“I wear general stuff that I’ll wear at the gym, that shows that I’m an active person, just shorts…a singlet or a T-shirt,” the Australian rider said. “I’m a fairly active person, so I just go with that.”

Italian sport climber Stefano Ghisolfi is also reluctant to swap his sports gear for anything else, even if there is a formal outing in the plans.

“I just wear climbing clothes every day, even if I go to dinner,” Ghisolfi said. “My style is very close to the style in sport climbing.”