Day eight of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games hosted the Men’s and Women’s BMX Racing Semifinals where Alise Willoughby (Saint Cloud, Minn.; Team Toyota/ Daylight Cycle Co.), Daleny Vaughn (Tucson, Ariz.; Biolab Sciences/ DK Bicycles), Cameron Wood (Bozeman, Mont.; Mongoose/USA BMX Foundation), and Kamren Larsen (Bakersfield, Calif.; Factory SSquared/Answer) competed in three separate runs for a chance to qualify for the final gold medal round.
Team USA’s Wood and Larsen completed their first run of the night together. Both riders came barreling down the start hill floating around the top five heading into the final corner. Ultimately, Wood crossed the line in fourth and Larsen finished right beside him in fifth. The two had the opportunity to race together again in the second run. The Americans were neck and neck until Larsen crashed out of the first corner. He ended up having to run across the line. Wood managed to navigate through the crash, securing fifth.
As the sun began to set, both men did their third semifinal run. Wood lined up in heat one ready to throw down a great run. In his best run of the night, Wood cruised across the line in second, securing his chances at racing in the finals. Larsen lined up in gate seven knowing that qualifying for the finals all came down to this lap. In a hard-fought battle to the finish, Larsen rode to seventh. With 19 points in total, Larsen was knocked out of contention and did not qualify for the finals.
Wood was the sole American in the main event. He was in the mix out of gate three, lined up in between the three Frenchmen who proved to be dominant all week. He went into turn one in fifth and powered through to continue in fifth place, a result to be proud of.
“Right now, I am devastated. I have all kinds of emotions. It’s taken everything I’ve had to get here, to get to this day. It just didn’t go the way I wanted it to. I’m proud of everything I’ve done to get here. It’s just an unforgiving sport at times. I am just doing my best to focus on the process and the journey... I’ll never be defined by one day, one race, one lap,” said Wood.
1. Joris Daudet (FRA)
2. Sylvain Andre (FRA)
3. Romain Mahieu (FRA)
5. Cameron Wood (USA)
14. Kamren Larsen (USA)
Willoughby competed in the first run of the night and rode clean out of the gate to finish second in heat one. Willoughby was back in the gate for run two coming out of gate one. She had a bad gate at the start and was out the back on the first straight but stayed smooth to ride to seventh.
Vaughn kept good track speed to hold her ground and finished fourth in the first run. On her second lap, she was fast out of the start but made a mistake on the rollers on the second straightaway finishing sixth.
Willoughby and Vaughn were both in heat three. Willoughby rode strong at the start, but it came down to a photo finish at the line where she took second, advancing her to the main event. Vaughn finished in sixth, unfortunately ending her Olympic run. She finished in 11th place at her first Olympic Games.
Willoughby lined up for the main event, just as the men were finishing. Starting in gate three, Willoughby was quick out of the gate but was interrupted coming out of the corner saying, “It’s a blessing and a curse to be quick but not right in the front because then the people that are way back can dive in like that and then that messes up the whole race for everyone. I thought I had it covered, but then late in the turn obviously the line got taken and I didn’t get to go.”
In a bittersweet ending, Willoughby rolled across the line in sixth. “I am in disbelief. I felt like I got out good. This is just a tough one to swallow. Unfortunately, the turn was what it was, it was just racing action. I am disappointed obviously, but my chin is still up,” continued Willoughby.
1. Saya Sakakibara (AUS)
2. Manon Veenstra (NED)
3. Zoe Claessens (SUI)
6. Alise Willoughby (USA)
11. Daleny Vaughn (USA)
Racing returns to the Trocadero tomorrow for the Men’s Road Race. Brandon McNulty (Phoenix; UAE Team Emirates), Magnus Sheffield (Pittsford, N.Y.; Ineos Grenadiers), and Matteo Jorgenson (Boise, Idaho; Team Visma – Lease a Bike) will all be competing for Team USA.
Stay up to date on all things Paris 2024 here.
