On 17 and 18 June, the Continental Arena in Nyíregyháza will host the 2022 European Indoor Cycling Championships, where the best of two disciplines, artistic cycling and cycle-ball, will compete against each other. The competition is open to athletes from ten nations who have pre-registered to compete.

Unfortunately, indoor cycling is still an unfamiliar concept for many people, even though cycling matches were held in Hungary as early as the late 1800s. The international image of the sport is average, the problem is that the acceptance of cycling in Hungary is not as high as in Western countries, although the national federation has been trying to change this recently.

Nyíregyháza has hosted several prestigious cycling events in recent years. Both the national and the international federation were satisfied with the organisation, which is why they decided to host the European Road Cycling Championships in Nyíregyháza.

The continental championship is the result of several years of preparatory work, and the home track is the perfect venue to applaud an outstanding Hungarian result.

Artistic cycling is a series of exercises performed within a predefined concentric circle, similar to floor exercise, which requires great stamina and effort and must be completed within five minutes. The international governing body of the discipline has a large body of documentation which defines the various static and acrobatic elements and the balancing exercises on the handlebars and saddle. As in gymnastics or figure skating, the difficulty of the segments is represented by different point values.

Cycle-ball is much simpler than this, with two teams of two or more people playing on a small track. The main objective is obviously to get the ball into the goal, which requires the use of the bicycle, although the ball can also touch the surface of the body and the goalkeeper can use his hands to defend, but the shots are taken with the wheel of the bicycle. The rules are broadly similar to those of football.