The first qualification event for the sport of BMX Freestyle to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games has taken place. The 2022 Urban Cycling World Championships in Abu Dhabi, one of the United Arab Emirates saw two places up for grabs for both genders in the BMX Freestyle Park Contest. The venue was set up on the Corniche Road, which is a “manicured waterfront” according to Abu Dhabi’s tourism website. While this was the first event chronologically, it is not the first hierarchically, meaning that we would not know the exact winners of the quota until after the event. In fact, places are reserved for continents not represented following the Olympic Qualifier Series (March-June 2024), adding further confusion. There was the additional caveat that both places couldn’t be claimed by an athlete from the same country. Therefore, a big asterisk will need to be put next to this event for now.
That said, Great Britain went into this event hoping to give themselves the best chance possible. Five Brits entered on the men’s side, in order of appearance these were: Ashley Finlay, youngster Dylan Hessey, Shaun Gornall, James Jones (who went to Tokyo 2020 as a reserve) and Kieran Reilly, who won silver at the European Championships in Munich in August.
Each rider (there were sixty in all) would have two runs, with the average leading to a final score, and twenty-four advancing to the semifinal. Reilly was the top-performing Brit in fifth with 84.15 (84.50/83.80), for a total of 84.15, with Gornall on 78.51 (78.80/78.22) in fifteenth and Finlay on 74.51 (74.50/74.52) in twenty-first also qualifying. Hessey just missed out in twenty-sixth with 72.66 (70.92/74.40), while Jones did not start, posting on Facebook that he “did the ligaments in my ankle/leg” along with a photo of him looking rather disappointed to see this opportunity pass him by.
Still, three Brits were in the semis, and this time there would be a different format, with only the top run of the two counting as twenty-four would become twelve. Reilly found an 89.28 in his first run, and though he followed it with a 53.40 it was enough for fifth. Gornall found himself under pressure after a 51..40 to begin, and a 78.70 was only enough for sixteenth, while Finlay’s 75.40 in the first round wasn’t bettered by his second (61.40) and he finished eighteenth. So only Reilly was in the final, with the same format. In the first run he could only produce a 55.60, but his second he got a creditable 80.10, still only enough for tenth and not near Olympic qualification. Still, he is obviously a great talent and one we should be excited for.
On the women’s side, we had two entrants: Sasha Pardoe, who is extremely exciting, being just sixteen but coming sixth in Munich, and Tokyo Olympic champion Charlotte Worthington. With just twenty-five entering, the qualification would be straight to the final: an average of two runs and the top twelve advancing. Worthington had no issues, with 82.60 (83.20/82.00) enough for second, while Pardoe had to settle for eighteenth with 50.55 (47.70/53.40). In the final (where only the top run counted), Worthington started with a decent 77.56, but her second run was a failure, granting 14.70, and she finished fifth. There should be no trouble for her qualifying, but she’ll be disappointed, which is of course a great motivator for improvement.
I’m not worried about Britain’s BMX Freestylers this cycle, let’s hope they find their groove at other events. The next chance is the Cycling World Championships in home soil on Glasgow in August.
GB Games 