The BMX Freestyle Park qualifications at La Concorde on Tuesday saw nine women and nine men qualify for tomorrow’s Olympic finals. Each rider had two 60-seconds runs, with the average of the two scores counting.
Hannah Roberts (USA) was top women’s qualifier with an average of 91.45 points. Kieran Reilly (GBR) clocked the best average score, 91.21, in the men’s competition. The day’s biggest surprises came in the women’s competition with the elimination of reigning Olympic Champion Charlotte Worthington (GBR) and Tokyo 2020 bronze medalist Nikita Ducarroz (SUI).
Women: Roberts leads the way
The Americans and Chinese dominated women’s qualifying: behind Roberts, the two Chinese riders, Yawen Deng and Jiaqi Sun, scored the next highest points, followed by Roberts’ USA teammate Perris Benegas.
Czechia, Colombia, Chile, Australia and France will all have one woman each in tomorrow’s finals.
A disappointing average score of 79.01 prevented defending Olympic Champion Worthington from progressing, while Tokyo 2020 bronze medalist Nikita Ducarroz was another of the three who did not go through.
“The first run was a bit nerve-wracking. I really stuck to what I needed to do,” said Hannah Roberts. “I tried not to change too much. 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.”
Men: Reilly throws down the gauntlet
Great Britain’s Kieran Reilly appears to be in great shape going into tomorrow’s finals after taking the best average score in the men’s competition. The USA will have two men’s finalists in Marcus Christopher and Justin Dowell, who finished with the second and fourth highest average scores respectively. They were separated by reigning Olympic Champion Logan Martin (AUS), third in qualifying.
The crowd went wild for Anthony Jeanjean (FRA) who rewarded them with an average 87.58 and fifth spot to go through to tomorrow, as did Japanese star Rim Nakamura in sixth.
Athletes from Argentina, Brazil and Latvia are also still in the mix for tomorrow.
“For this day I probably have more nerves, because there are two runs and both count, you don’t get that ‘safety run’, although tomorrow I have to step up my tricks. But it definitely helps with confidence,” said Logan Martin. “I’m feeling good, I had a good lead in for the last couple of years. I’m feeling confident in my riding.”
Results available here