In BMX Freestyle qualifying on Tuesday for the Paris Olympic Games, two podium finishers from the Tokyo 2020 Games - reigning champion Charlotte Worthington (Great Britain) and bronze medallist Nikita Ducarroz (Switzerland) - were eliminated from the women’s competition.
A total of 18 athletes moved on to the BMX Freestyle finals on Wednesday, nine women and nine men, led by reigning world champions Hannah Roberts (USA) and Kieran Reilly (Great Britain).
Ducarroz said she was not at her best, but was pleased to see how the level of competition has grown since the Tokyo Olympic Games, when BMX Freestyle first debutted as a medal sport.
“There was a lot of pressure, I wasn’t feeling great on the bike but I still wanted to try to do everything I could,” Ducarroz explained. “In the end, it wasn’t enough. It’s cool to see the level since Tokyo. It’s really gone up. Even now, it’s the first time we’ve had Olympic qualifications, so tomorrow, it’s going to be even stronger. The level increase stresses me out a bit, but it’s cool to see.”
Roberts, who finished second to Worthington three years ago at the Olympics, posted the best score of the day for the women on her first of two runs, a 91.80, and came away with an average of 91.45. Yawen Deng (China) was the only other athlete to score in the 90s, with a second-best average of 91.03.
The average score of two 60-second runs determined the nine finalists from 12 competitors. USA and China qualified two athletes each, while Czechia, Colombia, Chile, Australia and France each had one woman score enough for the finals.
Five-time French BMX Freestyle champion Laury Perez pleased the local crowd at the La Concorde venue as the ninth best of the day, her score 83.26. Ducarroz finished 10th, Worthington 11th and Kim Lea Mueller (Germany) 12th.
“The first run was a bit nerve-wracking. I really stuck to what I needed to do,” Roberts said. “I had a scare when something fell, and I had to ride around it. I was baking in the heat and glad to get it done. I was super happy with my first run.”
The sunny, hot conditions continued as the men took the course at Place de la Concorde, temperatures in Paris hitting 36 degrees Celsius (97 Fahrenheit).
Reilly set the mark for the men on his first run with 91.68, then finished with the best average score, 91.21. Marcus Christopher (USA) and Logan Martin (Australia), the reigning men’s Olympic champion, battled for the next top spots, respectively, separated by nine-hundredths of a second, the American with an average score of 89.48 to Martin’s 89.39. A second US athlete moved on with fourth, Justin Dowell.
Frenchman Anthony Jeanjean rewarded his home fans by finishing fifth with an average 87.58. Athletes from Japan, Argentina, Brazil and Latvia also qualified, while athletes from Canada, Croatia and South Africa failed to compile average scores over 80 and were eliminated.
“For today I’m probably more nervous because there are two runs and both count, you don’t have a ‘safety run’ and tomorrow I have to improve my tricks again. But it definitely helps with the confidence,” said reigning Olympic champion Logan Martin.
In the finals on Wednesday, only the highest score will be used to determine the results for men and women.
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