On the fifth day of the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships, the United States BMX Freestyle team made it through an afternoon of weather delays to claim two medals in the finals. At the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, Team USA had athletes compete in the Women’s Sprints, the Men’s Elimination Race, and the Women’s Madison.
Heading into Monday’s BMX Freestyle event, all eyes were on the U.S. athletes. With impressive qualifying scores in both the men’s and women’s events, athletes were focused and ready for this afternoon’s competition. The top qualifier on the women’s side was Olympic silver medalist Hannah Roberts (Buchanan, Mich.; Hyper BMX). Roberts perfectly executed her first run. Between her bar spins, back flips, and 360s, she hoped that she did enough to lock in the win. After the first run, the judges scored her with a 91.04, an unbelievably hard number to beat. Team China was not making it easily, though. The crowd watched as the Chinese riders went for their second runs, but they were unable to match Roberts’ score. Once the scores came in for Yawen Deng (CHN), the crowd went wild after realizing Roberts had claimed her fifth World Championship title.
“Honestly, I am feeling incredible. There has been a lot of work going into this moment. I knew that Team China was pushing strong and absolutely killing it, so I'm feeling a lot of motivation...and unfortunately, there was a string of injuries going into this, so it made it even more emotional that I put down a good run,” said Roberts after realizing she had won.
Elite Women
1 – Hannah Roberts (USA)
2 – Sibei Sun (CHN)
3 – Huimin Zhou (CHN)
On the men’s side, the weather caused the organizers to cancel the Semi-Finals, which forced them to send 24 men straight to the Finals on Monday. Nick Bruce (Youngstown, Ohio; DK Bicycles), yesterday’s fourth-place qualifier, had a standout day earning bronze in the Elite Men’s category. Bruce has been battling back from a torn rotator cuff. Today's Final was his first Final since coming back, “I had to repair a rotator cuff that I injured at the last Olympics, so I didn’t get to compete in this past Olympics. I had to wait and see if it was worth getting the surgery, and then I decided to get it, so I had to miss last year’s World Championship and a few World Cups. This is my year to get my feet back under me. At the first two World Cups, I didn’t make the Finals, so this is my first Final since being back... and I’m really happy that I was able to do a run that I wanted to put down,” said Bruce.
Justin Dowell (Virginia Beach, Va.; Hyper BMX) put down a solid run placing seventh. Daniel Sandoval (Corona, Calif.; Free Agent Bikes) was on a roll, throwing down trick after trick. He had podium-worthy runs but missed a pedal and could not get them down 100% clean. He would finish the day in eighth. The U.S. also saw an impressive ride from Jacob Thiem (Kennard, Neb.; Free Agent Bikes), who slid into first after his runs and would inevitably end up eleventh. He tried to better his first run but wasn’t able to do it. Bryce Tryon (Lodi, Calif.; Free Agent Bikes) rounded out the group securing 21st.
Elite Men
1 – Kieran Reilly (GBR)
2 – Logan Martin (AUS)
3 – Nick Bruce (USA)
7 – Justin Dowell (USA)
8 – Daniel Sandoval (USA)
11 – Jacob Thiem (USA)
21 – Bryce Tryon (USA)
Sprinting was the name of the game during the morning session on Monday. Mandy Marquardt (Allentown, Pa.; Team Novo Nordisk) rode fifth for the 200-meter qualification. She made a solid effort, finishing in 10.925. Her time ranked her 24th and qualified her to move on to the 1/16 Round. Later in the morning session, Marquardt went up against Yufang Guo of China. Using her experience in the event, Marquardt attempted to take Guo from the start. It was almost successful, but Guo nipped Marquardt at the line, beating her by just .035 seconds. Marquardt placed 24th overall, but racing continues Tuesday and Wednesday for the event.
Gavin Hoover (Manhattan Beach, Calif.; L39ion of Los Angeles) returned to race the Elimination Race after a crash in the Omnium left him a little banged up. As the race began, it was clear that it would be an aggressive competition from the gun, with riders pulling some risky moves to avoid elimination. Hoover rode smart, guarding his front wheel and avoiding several possible incidents. Hoover narrowly missed out on avoiding being eliminated in the 16th elimination, placing eighth overall.
Talking about the recovery from Sunday’s crash, Hoover said, “This ride definitely helped. I’m still a little sore, but my head feels so much better after this. I went into the Elimination Race thinking, ‘I’ll be stoked to finish in the top half,’ but as the race went on, I felt like I could do better and race more aggressively. I’m really happy with this result.”
Men’s Elimination
1 – Ethan Vernon (GBR)
2 – Dylan Bibic (CAN)
3 – Elia Viviani (ITA)
8 – Gavin Hoover (USA)
In only their second race pairing ever, Jennifer Valente (San Diego; TWENTY24 Pro Cycling) and Lily Williams (Tallahassee, Fla.; Human Powered Health) contested the 120-lap Women’s Madison. After several high-speed crashes, it came down to the last few sprints to determine the winner. The team was aggressive in the first half of the race, scoring points in each of the first three sprints. As the race progressed, the speed ratcheted up, and the sprints became battle royals. The Americans rode a strong race to finish with ten points and sixth place.
Women’s Madison
1 – Neah Evans and Elinor Barker (GBR)
2 – Georgia Baker and Alexander Manly (AUS)
3 – Victoire Berteau and Clara Copponi (FRA)
6 – Jennifer Valente and Lily Williams (USA)
The 2023 Gran Fondo Individual Time Trial took place in Dundee, Scotland. Athletes from around the world competed on an out-and-back course that was 22.8 kilometers long. The United States was well represented across both the Men’s and Women’s events. A complete list of results from today’s event can be found below.
The challenge classes had another exciting day of racing, with 17 Americans making the main event across ten categories. The Junior Men & Women 8, 9, 10, 11, Men 30-34, and Women 35-39. Remy Sessa (Richlands Hill, Texas) was the standout today, earning the gold medal in the Junior Women 8.
Tuesday’s lineup is jam-packed. The road squad is back for the Mixed Team Relay around the Glasgow City Centre circuit. The team will be made up of Neilson Powless (Roseville, Calif.; EF Education-EasyPost), Will Barta (Boise, Idaho; Movistar Team), Lawson Craddock (Houston; Team BikeExchange-Jayco), Skylar Schneider (Milwaukee, Wis.; L39ion of Los Angeles), Coryn Labecki (Tustin, Calif.; Team Jumbo-Visma), and Megan Jastrab (Apple Valley, Calif.; Team DSM). Williams follows up her Madison to take on the Points Race solo, then Hoover and Colby Lange (Edwards, Colo.; Chaney Windows and Doors) partner up for the Men’s Madison. BMX Freestyle Flatland qualifications start at Glasgow Green, and the BMX Racing Challenge classes continue at the Glasgow BMX Centre.
