With just 24 men and 24 women qualified for BMX Racing at the Olympic Games Paris 2024, the competition will be intense from the outset. The cream of the crop will gather at the track in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines for qualifications on Thursday 1st August, followed by the semifinals and finals on Friday 2 August. All racing takes place in the evening.
Men: who can beat the French at home?
Although he qualified for the Paris 2024 Games, defending Olympic Champion Niek Kimmann will not be part of the action. An infected heart muscle forced the Dutchman to choose health over sport and sit out this edition of the Olympic Games. Kimmann won gold in Tokyo despite a cracked knee-cap sustained in a crash during practice just days earlier.
Great Britain’s Kye Whyte wants to show the world he's the best. His silver in Tokyo can only be topped with gold so that’s the goal for the ‘Prince of Peckham’. Whyte is the only British male rider, while the United States, Netherlands and Switzerland all secured two quota places.
Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines will welcome three Colombians and three local French riders, indicating where the form is in men’s BMX Racing.
And the focus is especially on the French, who, with astonishing strength in depth, would theoretically have been able to provide eight racers fast enough to fill an Olympic final. The final selection was in favour of 2024 UCI World Champion Joris Daudet, 2023 UCI World Champion Romain Mahieu and 2018 UCI World Champion Sylvain André, who showed his form by recently finishing on the podium at the 2024 UCI BMX Racing World Championships in Rock Hill, USA. All three Frenchmen in the finals on the evening of 2 August under the lights of their home track is a good possibility. If that is the case, an all-French podium could not be ruled out.
But there’s no guarantee that the locals will have things their own way! Could Colombia’s Carlos Ramírez score his third consecutive Olympic podium in France? Will Australia’s Izaac Kennedy be in the best shape of his life after returning from injury in May’s UCI World Championships? Can Switzerland’s Cédric Butti overcome the disappointment of missing out on the 2024 UCI World Cup overall win, and shine when it matters? It’s key for all these contenders to make it to the final eight first… and then it’s anyone’s game!
Women: will experience win the day?
It’s true that experience goes a long way, and with that, all eyes should be on Colombia’s Mariana Pajón, the Netherlands’ Laura Smulders, the USA’s Alise Willoughby and Australia’s Lauren Reynolds. For all four women, Paris 2024 is their fourth Olympic Games. They’ll have special paint jobs on their bike frames and helmets in their nation’s colours – but who could be picking up gold at what could be their last participation in the Olympic Games?
Alise Willoughby is the current UCI World Champion, and that’s enough reason to be confident. Laura Smulders has won most UCI World Cup races of them all – a total higher than the three other riders put together – and if she approaches the Olympics in the same way as she hits a UCI World Cup, she may be able to add the Olympic title to her CV.
Mariana Pajón has already achieved cult status back in her native Colombia after winning the Olympic gold in London 2012 then retaining it in Rio 2016. The ‘Queen of BMX’ would love to add another medal to the collection but she did not make a podium at this year’s UCI BMX Racing Worlds nor any of the 2024 UCI World Cup rounds. However, the 33-year-old is the reigning American Continental Champion, and she knows how to make magic happen!
The Netherlands and the USA each claimed three quota spots for the Paris 2024 Games, followed by Switzerland, Australia and Colombia with two. Switzerland’s Zoé Claessens is also amongst the favoured riders to take gold and Australia’s Saya Sakakibara has won more often than not in 2024 so mustn't be ruled out for a podium.