Australia gained one other gold medal on the 2024 Paris Olympic Video games when Saya Sakakibara claimed the ladies’s BMX Racing occasion on the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines BMX Stadium exterior of Paris, France, on Friday. Her victory comes after she cast on towards the Tokyo Olympics after her brother suffered a traumatic mind harm in a race accident solely to then be left with concussion after crashing within the semifinals three years in the past.
“It’s loopy. I really feel that it’s a dream. It’s actual, proper?,” Sakakibara mentioned. “Each setback I had … I believed, ‘I’m going to provide this one other crack’, I simply had that in thoughts. I didn’t wish to depart right here with out making myself proud, make these setbacks worthwhile.”
It was additionally a historic day for the French group, which swept the medals within the males’s BMX Racing occasion. Joris Daudet, the three-time and reigning world champion, claimed the gold medal, his compatriots Sylvain Andre silver, and Romain Mahieu bronze.
“It’s wonderful, a dream that got here true. We delivered when it counted, we’re the large favourites, and we have been in a position to try this,” Daudet mentioned following the race.
BMX Racing occasions started on Thursday with the qualification rounds and resumed on Friday morning with the Semifinals.
Sakakibara gained the Semifinals run 1, warmth 1, forward of Alise Willoughby (USA) and Manon Veenstra (Netherlands). Through the Semifinals run 1, warmth 2, Bethany Shriever (Nice Britain) was first adopted by Molly Simpson (Canada) and Lauren Reynolds (Australia).
Sakakibara was additionally the quickest in Semifinals run 2, warmth 1, forward of Veenstra and Zoe Claessens (Switzerland), whereas Shriever was the quickest in Semifinal run 2, warmth 2, forward of Laura Smulders (Netherlands) and Mariana Pajon (Colombia).
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Shriever got here again to win Semifinal run 3, warmth 1, forward of Willoughby and Claessens, whereas Sakakibara was quickest in Semifinal run 3, warmth 2, forward of Merel Smulders (Netherlands) and Laura Smulders (Netherlands).
Sakakibara, Shriever and Veenstra accomplished the Semifinals within the prime three spots with the bottom factors scored.
Within the finals for the gold medal, Sakakibara crossed the road first in a time of 34.231, taking the victory forward of Veenstra with a time of 34.954, which yielded the silver medal, and Claessens’ taking bronze at 35.060.
“After Tokyo, I believe that concussion was the beginning of that emotional rollercoaster that I had, and up till that time, I hadn’t revisited or handled the feelings that I had after Kai’s accident, and all of it got here crashing down,” Sakakibara mentioned of her brother, Kai, a promising BMX racer, who suffered a extreme mind harm whereas racing in 2020.
“Eleven months later, after that concussion, I had one other concussion, and fearing the game lots. I used to be not having fun with it, and after the concussion, I believed it was the tip for me and never definitely worth the threat of getting one other concussion. Head accidents are so scary, and having gone by two back-to-back, I did not assume it was one thing that I might push by.
“Earlier than Tokyo and that crash, I used to be doing fairly good, and there was that burning want for what might have been. I knew that if I had given all of it up, I might have been upset in myself that I did not give it one other crack.
“With these experiences, I went by drastic modifications in my life, and wanted to seek out that relationship with BMX. I used to be capable of finding myself as a racer as a result of up till that time I used to be a racer with Kai, and I needed to discover myself as a racer with out Kai by my aspect.”
The rider who nonetheless races with the quantity 77, to signify her brother on the observe, devoted the gold medal to him.
Within the males’s Semifinals run 1, warmth 1, Daudet was the quickest, forward of his compatriot Andre. Mahieu gained the Semifinal run 1 warmth 2 forward of Izaac Kennedy (Australia) and Cedric Butti (Switzerland).
Mahieu went on to win the Semifinal run 2, warmth 1, forward of Switzerland’s Simon Marquart and Italy’s Pietro Bertagnoli. Andre was quickest in Semifinal run 2, warmth 2, forward of Daudet and Mateo Carmona Garcia (Colombia).
Mahieu once more gained in Semifinal run 3, warmth 1, this time beating Cameron Wooden (USA) and Butti, whereas Daudet was quickest in Semifinal run 3, warmth 2, beating compatriot Andre and Swiss rider Marquart.
The French group went into the ultimate run for golds because the outright favourites, with Mahieu, Daudet, and Andre holding the highest three spots and lowest factors scored after the Semifinals.
Daudet took the gold medal with a time of 31.422 seconds within the last, crossing the road forward of his teammates Andre at 31.706 and Mahieu third at 32.002.
“We skilled for that,” Daudet mentioned. “Now we have labored actually exhausting mentally and to have the ability to carry out when it counts. I knew I used to be prepared for that. Simply a whole lot of exhausting work and placing it collectively when it counts.”
Silver medallist Andre mentioned of his efficiency and the France group sweep, “The race itself is basically about the way you drop in. Every of us does it in another way and I didn’t wish to fall behind, I needed to remain in entrance. As soon as the three of us have been in entrance, we managed to regulate (the race). We knew that it was an Olympic medal at stake, and so I might by no means have tried one thing dangerous.”
“To realize first, second and third, we knew that it was attainable, that there was a slim likelihood, and all of us needed to win the race,” Andre mentioned. “I’m glad that we did and never the others.”
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