China's Deng Yawen competes in the Women's Cycling BMX Freestyle Park Final during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, on July 31, 2024.ODD ANDERSEN/Getty Images
Deng Yawen of China won gold in the women’s freestyle BMX competition at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday, while five-time world champion Hannah Roberts of the United States crashed out of both of her runs and failed to medal.
Deng finished with a score of 92.60 points at the urban sports park built at Place de La Concorde. Perris Benegas of the U.S. rose to the occasion, going from fourth place at the Tokyo Games to a silver medal with 90.70 points. Natalya Diehm of Australia had two clean runs and her first of 88.80 points was good enough for bronze.
Roberts, the silver medalist in Tokyo, may have been feeling the effects of a practice crash. Her first run was clean until she fell hard while trying a late front flip. Her second run ended only seconds in when she put her foot down on a landing.
Charlotte Worthington of Britain, the defending Olympic champ, failed to qualify for the finals.
The medal for Deng came after the Chinese team failed to qualify anyone for Tokyo. The result, coupled with the fact that China qualified three and had to leave one rider at home because of quota numbers, showed how far the nation has come.
The medal round got off to an inauspicious start for Roberts, who was going over a jump during a warm-up session when she collided with Czech rider Iveta Miculycova. The American seemed to grab at her right shoulder as she ran immediately off the course, leaving her bike gleaming in the sun on the purple-hued flats.
Hannah Roberts, of the United States, left, stands up and runs away after apparently getting injured in a collision with Iveta Miculycova, of the Czech Republic,, right, during the warmup before the cycling BMX freestyle women's park final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, July 31, 2024, in Paris, France.Frank Franklin II/The Associated Press
One of her biggest rivals, Sun Jiaqi of China, looked like she was going to put up a big number on her first run. But in the final seconds, she clipped her front tire on the spine and landed hard on her full-faced helmet, essentially scuttling that score.
She also crashed during a tailwhip on her second try, taking Sun out of the medal running.
It was her compatriot who set the standard on her first run. Deng opened with a big double tailwhip, threw down a no-handed backflip and peppered her ride with another tailwhip, a triple bar spin and a double bar spin. The cleanliness of her ride resulted in a score of 92.50 – which she bettered by a tenth on her second run – and put pressure on Roberts to respond.
Roberts was on her way to a medal-worthy run before trying the front flip, where she didn’t appear to carry enough speed.
It wasn’t the last time the favoured American would end up on the ground.
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