BMX prodigy, four, comes third in under-16 contest

Four-year-old Parker (left) came in third place in a national under-16s BMX competition earlier this summer

Four-year-old Parker has not even started school full time yet - but he has beaten children almost four times his age in a national BMX competition.

Parker, who got his first balance bike at 18 months old, recently finished third in an under-16s championships in Birmingham, and has set his sights on X Games glory and a Red Bull sponsorship.

"This sounds ridiculous, but it took him about 40 minutes to learn how to ride with pedals," said his dad Louis, from Newport.

"I just love it so much," Parker said.

"Once he figured out which way to push the pedals around, that was it. He was just gone," said Louis.

Louis, who was never a biker himself, said Parker developed the interest all on his own - dragging him and his wife along for the ride.

While he does enjoy the occasional cartoon, Louis said Parker's favourite thing to watch, over Bluey or Spidey, is mountain biking and BMX footage.

"We noticed him really getting into bikes in probably autumn last year, because all he wanted to do was just watch videos of people riding bikes."

Louis says than rain or shine, there is nothing that Parker would rather be doing than riding his bike

Parker got his first BMX in just January of this year, and soon began attending BMX workshops in Newport, ran by UK champion Matti Hemmings.

"I saw Matti posted about them on social media, but they were for seven plus," said Louis.

"I cheekily asked 'what are you doing for four year olds?' and he just wrote back 'if you want to bring him, bring him'... he called my bluff.

"Matti just said straight away, [Parker]'s got a natural ability... and that was it."

Parker came third in a national competition just months after getting his first BMX

Louis said Parker's best discipline is flatland BMX - doing tricks on the ground, without the use of ramps, however, for Parker, he enjoys the more extreme side.

"Everyone knows that Parker is the best at flatland, but it's not fast enough for him, there's no big jumps in it, it doesn't excite him as much.

"He just kind of goes 'yeah, I can do that. It's easy', but it's actually really difficult for many."

Louis said this past summer was the first time they decided to look at competitions to enter, and landed on the UK Flatland BMX Championships at the NEC in Birmingham.

"Parker was in the under-16 beginners category, which sounds really wild when you just go ‘he’s just four’, so yeah we didn't really know what to expect.

"It went from going like ‘oh, Parker's gonna do really well’ to ‘let's just not finish last’."

'So incredibly proud of him'

“I think there was around 18 that entered, Parker was the youngest at four. I think there was a five-and-a-half-year-old there but then everyone else was 10 plus.

"I'm kind of stood on the side with my legs shaking, feeling all that nervousness… you know, there was over 100 people watching."

However, Louis said Parker does not share his nerves: "With the bike helmet off, the shyest kid you'll ever meet but, bike helmet on, he's so confident."

After landing a six-trick combo in his final run, Parker secured third place in the competition.

"Me and my wife were just so incredibly proud of him, you know, just the fact that he went out there and did it full stop, let alone coming third... we couldn't speak any higher of him.

"Which always sounds really biased as a parent, saying ‘my child's wonderful’, but it's really hard to not say that about Parker, because he actually is really good."

Parker met his idol, Red Bull mountain biker Fabio Widmer, earlier this year

Not content with just BMX, last month Parker came in second place in a downhill mountain bike race in Gloucester.

"That was an under-six category, so that was a bit more his level," said Louis.

As for Parker’s future, Louis said he’s got his sights set on joining his idol, Austrian mountain biker Fabio Widmer, as a Red Bull athlete.

"It’s his ultimate dream, which I can't imagine is the case for many four year olds," said Louis.

"He'll do a jump and go if ‘I do this, well, Red Bull sponsor me’, and I have to tell him ‘not yet, mate. I don't think they want children’.

"We watch the (extreme sports competition) X Games religiously, and he’ll go ‘yeah, I can do that’.

"He can't," Louis joked.

"But there's no doubt in my mind that he will be able to."