The first BMX world championship was held in 1982 in Dayton (Ohio, United States), organized by the International BMX Federation (I.BMX.F.). Starting from 1985, the Fédération Internationale Amateur de Cyclisme (FIAC), at the time the amateur section of the UCI, organized its own championships in parallel, even if the competitive and organizational level was decidedly lower than that of the I.BMX competitions. F. Since 1991 the championship has been unified and organized jointly by the two Federations. In 1996 the UCI fully recognized the BMX specialty and took over the organization of the event, recognizing the world titles previously awarded by the dissolved I.BMX.F.
