Cycling at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's BMX freestyle

The women's BMX freestyle event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 31 July and 1 August 2021 at the Ariake Urban Sports Park.[1] 9 cyclists from 8 nations competed.[2]

Women's BMX freestyle
at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad
Olympic BMX cycling
VenueAriake Urban Sports Park
Date31 July – 1 August 2021
Competitors9 from 8 nations
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Charlotte Worthington  Great Britain
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Hannah Roberts  United States
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Nikita Ducarroz  Switzerland
2024 →

Background

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This was the debut appearance of the event, with freestyle BMX added to the programme for the first time (BMX racing was added in 2008).

The reigning (2021) World Champion is teenager Hannah Roberts of the United States, who was also the 2017 and 2019 winner and 2018 bronze medalist.[3]

A preview by Olympics.com noted Roberts as favourite, with Macarena Perez of Chile and Charlotte Worthington of Great Britain (the 2021 World Championships bronze medalist) as other contenders.[4]

Qualification

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A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to 2 qualified cyclists in the BMX freestyle. Quota places are allocated to the NOC, which selects the cyclists. There were 9 quota places available, allocated as follows:[2]

  • UCI nation ranking (6 places): Top NOC earns 2 places. NOCs ranked 2nd to 5th each earn 1 place.
  • 2019 World Championships (2 places): The top 2 NOCs at the 2019 UCI Urban Cycling World Championships, which have not yet earned any quota places, each earn 1 place.
  • Host place (1 place): Host nation Japan was guaranteed 1 place.

Competition format

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The competition is a two-round tournament, with a seeding round and a final. Each round has the cyclists all do two runs. The runs are 60 seconds long. Five judges give scores between 0.00 and 99.99 based on the difficulty and execution of the rider's run; the scores are averaged for a total run score. In the seeding round, the rider's two run scores are averaged to give a total seeding score. These seeding scores are used to determine the start order of the cyclists in the final, providing a knowledge advantage to the later riders. In the final, only the better score of the two runs counts.[4][5]

Schedule

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The event took place over two consecutive days.[1]

H Heats QF Quarter-Finals SF Semi-Finals F Finals
BMX, mountain biking and road cycling
Event↓/Date → 24 July 25 July 26 July 27 July 28 July 29 July 30 July 31 Jul 1 Aug
BMX Freestyle
Women's freestyle H F

Results

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Seeding

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The seeding phase determines the start order for the final. The best ranked rider from the seeding will start last in the final.[6]

Rank Cyclist Nation Run 1 Run 2 Average Notes
1 Hannah Roberts   United States 89.80 85.60 87.70
2 Perris Benegas   United States 84.80 88.20 86.50
3 Nikita Ducarroz   Switzerland 83.70 83.40 83.55
4 Charlotte Worthington   Great Britain 81.80 81.20 81.50
5 Natalya Diehm   Australia 77.40 79.00 78.20
6 Lara Marie Lessmann   Germany 66.00 73.40 69.70
7 Macarena Perez Grasset   Chile 70.20 65.60 67.90
8 Minato Oike   Japan 60.00 62.90 61.45
9 Elizaveta Posadskikh   ROC 51.80 50.80 51.30

Final

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Rank Cyclist Nation Run 1 Run 2 Best Run Notes
  Charlotte Worthington   Great Britain 38.60 97.50 97.50
  Hannah Roberts   United States 96.10 28.40 96.10
  Nikita Ducarroz   Switzerland 89.20 54.60 89.20
4 Perris Benegas   United States 81.20 88.50 88.50
5 Natalya Diehm   Australia 86.00 80.50 86.00
6 Lara Marie Lessmann   Germany 79.60 78.00 79.60
7 Minato Oike   Japan 13.40 75.40 75.40
8 Macarena Perez Grasset   Chile 24.40 73.80 73.80
9 Elizaveta Posadskikh   ROC 63.00 10.20 63.00

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Cycling BMX Freestyle Competition Schedule". Tokyo 2020. Archived from the original on 29 June 2021. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  2. ^ a b "Qualification System – Games of the XXXII Olympiad – Cycling BMX Freestyle" (PDF). Union Cycliste Internationale. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  3. ^ "Hannah Roberts, Olympic gold medal favorite in new BMX event, wins third world title". NBC. 7 June 2021. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  4. ^ a b "Cycling BMX Racing". Tokyo 2020. Archived from the original on 29 June 2021. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  5. ^ Liam Nee (26 March 2021). "Cycling 101: Competition format". NBC. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
  6. ^ "Seeding Results" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 July 2021. Retrieved 31 July 2021.