Beth Shriever, the Olympic BMX champion in Tokyo, failed to follow up her success from three years ago, despite being the second fastest qualifier for the women’s final.
After making stellar progress, the 25-year-old’s failure to reach the medal positions was a major surprise. “I was just a little bit late out of the start and paid the price for it,” she said, after finishing the final, won by Australia’s Saya Sakakibara, eighth out of eight.
“The pressure is high, everyone’s feeling it,” she said, “Literally one little mistake cost me so, it is what it is.
“I had the perfect run in, pretty much. Maybe I might have got a little bit excited and my thoughts got away from me, but I can’t complain. I’ve had the best time and that’s what BMX is all about.”
Under the watchful eye of president, Emmanuel Macron, and in front of ecstatic crowds, the French riders dominated the men’s racing talking the gold, silver, and bronze medals in the men’s final, through Joris Daudet, Sylvain André and Romain Mahieu respectively.
As in all of Thursday’s qualifiers, Shriever had won all her three semi-final heats, or motos, en route to the final. In fact, the athlete from Leytonstone even eased up in her final heat, yet still won the race.
“I think BMX is so unpredictable. Loads of things can happen, and it’s a massive mental game as well which I’ve been working on myself, so I’m very proud of how I’ve dealt with my nerves and everything leading into this.”
Shriever had said that finals night was “a mental game” and with Sakakibara riding marginally faster in the three qualifiers and the semi-finals, it was unclear who was bluffing who – until the pair finally came face to face in the final.
Shriever’s disappointment came soon after Team GB teammate, and the Tokyo silver medallist, Kye Whyte, crashed out of the competition in the second of three semi-final heats.
Whyte struggled through the heats with back pain and then crashed out in the second semi-final, only 75m into the race.
The 24-year-old, who had narrowly avoided getting entangled in a tangle with other riders in Thursday night’s second heat, had already admitted that fear of injury was blunting his racing.
“My back is really messed up, so I didn’t want to crash,” Whyte said after the qualifying heats. “I was just trying to stay safe and qualify.”
“I’m in a lot of pain. I don’t have much strength to come out of the start with, because it’s my back and coming down my leg. I’m trying my hardest to make sure I got into the top four to qualify.”
In fact, it was as Whyte, already losing ground, struggled to stay in contact in the second heat, that he fell hard, on his right side.After lying on the track in pain for several minutes, Whyte was taken away on a stretcher by medical staff and took no further part in the racing.
In a statement, British Cycling said: “Following his crash in tonight’s BMX racing semi-final, Kye Whyte was assessed immediately by the on-site medical team. This was followed up by further immediate review by Great Britain cycling team doctor, Nigel Jones, who delivered a positive report, with no significant injuries.”
