If there’s one thing Danika Bergersen learned about herself during a BMX competition last month, it’s that she knows how to persevere.
“I don’t back down from challenges easily,” she said.
It’s something that propelled the 15-year-old bicycle motocross racer to the top in the Eastern Region BMX Track Attack Series for 2025 held in Melbourne, Australia, from January 11-19.
The young athlete, who rode in the 16-year-old girls’ group, competed in 21 races across six different tracks in Melbourne, and claimed victory in every single one of her races, clinching first place in the competition for her age group.
The champion arrived at the competition with no expectations, and even though she was happy with the results, it all came as “a bit of a shock”, she said.
The racer, and Hauraki Plains College Year 11 student, told The Profile it was a confidence boost to ride with new competitors and in different environments, which she called “that unknown element”.
She said racing on unfamiliar tracks and having limited time to practice meant she only had around four laps prior to each race to learn the track.
“This was a bit of a challenge, but was something I was able to adapt to.”
One thing Danika said she enjoyed was two of the races which happened at night and finished around 11pm.
“New Zealand has twilight races but they often finish before it gets too dark.”
Danika also had an “amazing opportunity” to take part in a coaching session with 2024 Paris Olympics gold medal winner and French rider Joris Daudet, and a second coaching session with Australian BMX Olympian Izaac Kennedy, she said.
But her victory lap doesn’t end there.
Hot on the heels of her first Track Attack Series win abroad, Danika headed back to New Zealand to start the new school year, continue BMX training and to compete in another competition.
On February 2, the rising BMX star competed in the 2025 Oceania BMX Championships in New Plymouth, where she claimed another first place victory in the 16-year-old girls’ category.
The racing prodigy said this was a major event where top riders from anywhere in Oceania went to compete and she was happy she achieved the title.
The next thing Danika was working towards was the BMX New Zealand National Championships in Invercargill from March 21-23, she said.
But two dream goals for Danika were to continue having fun while competing, and also to be able to “give back to the sport” by coaching some of the younger riders, she said.
