At the annual invite-only contest, taking place in the Middle Eastern Kingdom for the second time, 41-year-old Alex Jumelin topped qualifying in the BMX flatland event.

The Frenchman, a four-time world champion, scored 79.00 points in the Al-Ahsa Oasis to finish ahead of Sietse Van Berkel from The Netherlands and Thailand’s Pakphum Poosa-Art.

They scored 76.66 and 76.00 points respectively to also qualify.

A group of six riders advanced to the final.

Qualifying competitions also went ahead in wakeboarding, rollerskating and skateboarding too.

France also topped the wakeboard pro qualifying through Maxime Roux who scored 73.75 points.

In contrast to Jumelin, Roux is just 14-years-old.

In a much more youthful contest among the others to qualify were two 18-year-olds Jules Charraud, another Frenchman, and Thailand’s Victor Salmon.

They came second and third with scores of 73.33 and 70.21 points respectively.

Amateur competitions are also going ahead in Al-Ahsa for local athletes and the roller freestyle park qualifying contest was won by Faris Baqyas, who scored 75 points to beat Ibrahim Daghistani and Saif Ali Al Shamsi.

Amateur street skateboarding also took place and qualifying in that was won by Artee Digol.

He scored 64.50 points, beating Bilal Alshaik and Ahmed Haji.

Tomorrow finals action is due to begin, with the first pro winner decided in the wakeboarding event.