Zoe Claessens (born 28 April 2001) is a Swiss BMX racing cyclist.

Zoe Claessens
Personal information
Born (2001-04-28) 28 April 2001 (age 23)
Medal record
Representing  Switzerland
Women's BMX racing
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Youth Olympic Games 0 1 0
World Championships 0 1 0
World Junior Championships 0 1 1
World Cup 0 1 0
World Cup rounds 4 4 3
European Championships 3 0 0
European Junior Championships 1 0 0
Total 8 8 4
World Championships
Silver medal – second place 2022 Nantes BMX racing
World Cup
Silver medal – second place 2022 BMX racing
Youth Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 2018 Buenos Aires Mixed BMX racing
World Junior Championships
Silver medal – second place 2018 Baku BMX racing
Bronze medal – third place 2019 Heusden-Zolder BMX racing
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 2021 Heusden-Zolder BMX racing
Gold medal – first place 2023 Besançon BMX racing
Gold medal – first place 2023 Besançon BMX racing time trial (team)
European Junior Championships
Gold medal – first place 2019 Valmiera BMX racing

Claessens started racing BMX at age seven. Her father founded the Echichens BMX Club in Switzerland, and two of her brothers were also BMX racers. In 2018 she received the Female Young Talent award from the Swiss Sports Aid Foundation. She was selected in the Swiss team for the Cycling at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's BMX racing.[1] Prior to that event in June 2021 she became the European Champion in Heusden-Zolder.[2] She is coached by former World Champion and British Olympian Liam Phillips.[3]

In 2022 she won silver at the UCI BMX World Championships. In October 2022 she finished runner-up at the UCI BMX Supercross World Cup behind Laura Smulders and ahead of Olympic champion Beth Shriever.[4]

References edit

  1. ^ "Cycling BMX Racing: CLAESSENS Zoe". Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 2021-07-29. Retrieved 2021-07-29.
  2. ^ "BMX: la Vaudoise Zoé Claessens championne d'Europe!". RTSSport.ch. July 10, 2021.
  3. ^ Bory, Romain (2021-07-19). "Liam Phillips: "When she performs well, Zoé Claessens is competitive"". La Cote. Retrieved 2021-07-29.
  4. ^ "BMX World Cup: Olympic champion Beth Shriever finishes third overall". BBC Sport.

External links edit