Killa Kolya with an inverted elbow hollowback at the Red Bull BC One World Final in Mumbai, India on Novemeber 9, 2019.
© Little Shao/Red Bull Content Pool
Breaking

Will you battle for your Red Bull BC One dream like Killa Kolya?

Get motivated by the story of how Killa Kolya took every opportunity to battle and, by doing so, created one of the most inspiring stories in the history of Red Bull BC One.
Written by Emmanuel Adelekun
4 min readPublished on
The Red Bull BC One E-Battle is the opportunity for any serious B-Boy or B-Girl to make their name on the Red Bull BC One World Final stage. There are many breakers who've made it to the World Final on their own in past years, like Killa Kolya. This is his story.

4 min

Killa Kolya's journey to the World Final

Find out about Killa Kolya's inspiring journey leading up to the 2019 Red Bull BC One World Final.

English

Be sure to download the free Red Bull TV app and catch the Breaking action on all your devices! Get the app here
Killa Kolya has never been invited to the Red Bull BC One World Final. Instead, he's always battled to earn his spot by taking the opportunity that the Red Bull BC One Cypher qualifiers give to breakers in many countries.
In 2015, Killa Kolya won the Kazakhstan cypher and then went on to win the Red Bull BC One Eastern European Final, which earned him a spot in the top 16 for the Red Bull BC One World Final.
In 2017, the Last Chance Cypher was introduced as a final qualifier, where all the national champions would battle prior to the world final, fighting for the open spots in the top 16 competition. Again, Killa Kolya won his cypher that year and every year since to qualify for every Last Chance Cypher.
What some might not know is that before 2019 Killa Kolya had never made it through the first round of any Red Bull BC One World Final, or Last Chance Cypher. Putting in all that work, year-after-year, other breakers might have stopped, but Killa Kolya didn't give up.
In fact, in 2019, not only did Killa Kolya finally making it through the first round of the Last Chance Cypher, he also won it, earned his place in the top 16. He then went on to accomplish achievements that had never been done at a Red Bull BC One World Final before.
That night, Killa Kolya became the first Last Chance Cypher winner to make it through the first round of the World Final and then carried on, becoming the first breaker to make it all the way from winning his country cypher to the final battle of the Red Bull BC One World Final.
Killa Kolya (L) of Kazakhstan competes against Menno (R) of the Netherlands during the Red Bull BC One World Final at the National Sports Club of India (NSCI) in Mumbai, India on November 9, 2019.

The final between Killa Kolya and Menno was intense

© Dean Treml/Red Bull Content Pool

In his epic final battle with B-Boy Menno, the two breakers became the first two finalists to ever do two extra rounds once the battle was over. Killa Kolya pushed Menno so hard that when the battle was over, Menno jumped out to continue battling. DJ Smirnoff answered by scratching the music back on and Killa Kolya answered by going two more crazy rounds with Menno. Relive their epic battle in the video below.

11 min

B-Boys final

The top two b-boys compete in the final battle of Red Bull BC One World Final in India.

Killa Kolya didn't win that night, but he definitely delivered the most inspiring performance and was story of the 2019 Red Bull BC One World Final. What he did that weekend was the result of the experience he'd built up over the years by taking all the opportunities to battle every time the opportunity was available to him. Killa Kolya took those chances and, through persistence, he made it happen.
This is why we created the Red Bull BC One E-Battle, to give more opportunities to breakers around the world to earn a spot in the Red Bull BC One World Final and hopefully create their own inspiring stories along the way.
B-Boy Killa Kolya of Kazhakstan competes at the Last Chance Cypher at the Red Bull BC One Camp in Mumbai, India on November 7, 2019.

Killa Kolya with an Airfreeze at the Last Chance Cypher in Mumbai

© Little Shao/Red Bull Content Pool

What makes the 2020 E-Battle special, though, is that it isn't limited by location or country. It's a worldwide online competition for every B-Boy and B-Girl to enter, no matter where they live. On top of that, this year the E-Battle winners won't have to go through the Last Chance Cypher – they'll earn a spot in the top 16 of the 2021 Red Bull BC One World Final and go straight to the main stage.

1 min

Red Bull BC One 2020 E-Battle Teaser

For the first time ever, the winners of the Red Bull BC One E-Battle go directly to the Top 16 of the next World Final. You can start uploading videos from August 7.

Killa Kolya has shown that you don't need to be invited to the World Final to make an impact, you just need to take the opportunities when they're open to you. The Red Bull BC One E-Battle is your opportunity, so will you take it?

Part of this story

Red Bull BC One

Red Bull BC One is the biggest one-on-one b-boy and b-girl competition in the world. Every year, thousands of dancers battle for a chance to represent at the World Final.

36 Tour Stops

Killa Kolya

A B-Boy and Red Bull BC One World Final runner-up from Kazakhstan.

KazakhstanKazakhstan