The USA Cycling BMX Freestyle team had their first contest in over a year this weekend in Montpellier, France at the 2021 UCI Urban World Championships. Hannah Roberts (Buchanan, Mich.) won the Elite Women’s category with a score of 91.90. This marks back-to-back World titles for Roberts and her third title of her career.
Roberts described what it’s like to win her third World Championship in an Olympic year: “It feels amazing! It definitely was the goal. In 2019 I wanted to put myself in good standings going into Tokyo and try to be one of the one of the higher competitors. Having a long break and then the World Championships this year, right before the Olympics, it was definitely another shot, so I'm glad that I brought it back to the US. Going to Tokyo as a world champion is an amazing feeling.”
Each rider has two 1-minute judged runs where their best score is taken. Perris Benegas (Reno, Nev.) and Chelsea Wolfe (Lake Park, Fla.) both qualified second and third, respectively, behind Roberts. With the Team USA sweep, the squad was prepared for finals on Monday morning. The women took to the course and came out with some big tricks in their first runs. Benegas had a great start to her first run, but came up short on a trick and would stop her run early saving it for the next one. In her second run, she was the only female to hit the big channel gap into the quarter pipe giving her a score of 85.80. She would finish just off the podium in fourth. Wolfe’s first run would be her best score of the day finishing with 80.00 and fifth place. Angie Marino (Buffalo, N.Y.) kept her same qualifying result and finished sixth.
Roberts also commented on what it has been like competing again after 19-months without a contest: “It's been a great year, but it's had its challenges. Having a good family and support system, and an amazing wife behind me definitely kept me motivated, making sure that I was doing everything that I needed to do. Being back in contests definitely brings a lot more pressure. There's new anxiety just because you haven't seen anybody and you haven't really competed and you get to feel all those feelings of your first contest again. So, it's a pretty overwhelming feeling sometimes, but it's an incredible at the same time. I wouldn't change it for the world. It's been great.”
The men proved to be the ones to watch taking the Top-2 spots in qualifying and putting three men in the Top-4 in the semi-finals. Daniel Sandoval (Corona, Calif.) took the top spot, with Nick Bruce (Youngstown, Ohio) in second, and Justin Dowell (Virginia Beach, V.A.) in fourth. For the finals, the men were all in throwing down tricks that no one has ever seen in competition. Sandoval pulled out the entire trick list for his first run scoring a 92.96 putting him in second place, landing the first Double Decade in competition. It was either all or nothing for his second run, and he would crash attempting to land the Double Decade again. Dowell was also consistent with his two runs doing a Twix (Bar Spin and Tail Whip) in competition. His best run scored him an 89.56. Bruce crashed on his first run, but came back for redemption just behind Dowell with a score of 89.42.
Elite Women:
1. Hannah Roberts (USA) 91.90
2. Nikita Ducarroz (SUI) 90.30
3. Charlotte Worthington (GBR) 88.90
4. Perris Benegas (USA) 85.80
5. Chelsea Wolfe (USA) 80.00
6. Angie Marino (USA) 78.10
Elite Men:
1. Logan Martin (AUS) 94.70
2. Daniel Sandoval (USA) 92.96
3. Marin Rantes (CRO) 90.90
4. Justin Dowell (USA) 89.56
5. Nick Bruce (USA) 89.42
