Izaac Kennedy gave himself 10 minutes to vent before doing his best to look at the bigger picture.
The 23-year-old had won his first BMX World Cup title on a wet Saturday in Brisbane and was flying again with the sun out on Sunday as he looked to put his Olympic selection case beyond doubt.
Comfortably in second entering the final turn in his quarter-final, the Queenslander had nowhere to go when the leader bit the dust in front of him.
Kennedy swerved, skidded and stopped, his shoe unclipped and dreams of back-to-back Cup wins on home soil went up in smoke as he rolled off the track and threw his head back in disgust.
Nine months earlier he had torn his anterior cruciate ligament and pondered whether it was worth continuing in the sport.
"You throw your stuff, then cool down for 10 minutes and move on, get back to the goal," Kennedy told AAP of the brutal nature of his sport.
"Pretty bummed, for sure. It sucks; having the win and I felt good again, then things go wrong and it's not even in your control.
"At the end of the day I won a World Cup (on Saturday) and I'll take it. It's been a long road back and I'm leaving the weekend healthy."
Kennedy has burst quickly back onto the scene after his knee injury to command Olympic selection and, along with women's World Cup leader Saya Sakakibara, loom as genuine Australian medal hopes in Paris in July.
In the four Olympics since the sport's 2008 debut in China, Sam Willoughby's London 2012 silver is Australia's only BMX racing medal.
"I've watched since Beijing," Kennedy said.
"I knew from that day that's where I want to be and it's been a long road since then, but we're on a good path now.
"I won the race (on Saturday) and we're going to be racing the same guys in Paris.
"There's more races between now and then; I'll try and win as many as I can but the Olympics is the goal."
The World Cup's final two rounds will be raced in Tulsa in April, the world championships follow in California in May and Australia's Olympic BMX racing team will be finalised in June.
