BMX: Australian superstars Sam Willoughby and Caroline Buchanan finished just outside the medals in the elite time trial events at the UCI BMX World Championships in Zolder, Belgium on Friday night.
Willoughby fell short of defending the title he won in 2014, finishing fourth behind Frenchman Joris Daudet in the elite men’s event, while fellow Rio Olympic hopeful Buchanan was eighth in the women’s super final after qualifying in second.
Willoughby, who finished just 0.053 away from a medal and 0.388 from gold, said, while it hurt to lose his rainbow jersey in the event, he was ready to make amends for his performance in Saturday’s main event.
“I made a lot of mistakes. Time trials are hard when you’re out there by yourself and when you compete against the clock it’s never easy,” Willoughby said.
“They were mistakes that in a race you wouldn’t even talk about but when you’re racing to the thousandth of a second they add up.
“I’m definitely ready for tomorrow. I feel great on the track and everything’s good.”
Like Willoughby, Buchanan was disappointed with her eighth place but already looking forward to Saturday’s championship event.
“My first lap (qualifying) was good and I had some room to improve, however in the super final I made a mistake on the first jump which messed up my flow and and made a few more mistakes that cost me the podium,” Buchanan said.
“I’m disappointed but excited to battle it out in racing tomorrow.”
Of the other Australians on the track in the elite men’s event, national series champion Bodi Turner put in a great display to qualify 15th for the super final and finish 14th. As a qualifier for the super final, Turner will now have the added benefit of not having to participate in Saturday’s qualifying motos, instead entering the event in the 1/8 finals.
In qualifying, Kai Sakakibara was the third best in 31st, followed by Anthony Dean (37th), Josh Callan (44th) and Alex Cameron (60th). Brad Game came off his pedals in the third straight to finish 86th, whilst national champion Corey Frieswyk hit the deck just a few metres from the finish line.
In the women’s elite event Lauren Reynolds (18th), Melinda McLeod (23rd), Rachel Jones (27th) and Sarah Harvey (34th), all set to ride through the motos tomorrow, as will Rachelle Smith (18th) in the junior women’s.
Saturday is the fifth and final day of the championships with qualifying motos beginning at 250pm local (1050pm AEST). The finals are scheduled to take place from 535-735pm local time.
A reminder that you can live stream Saturday’s action via this link: http://bit.ly/1MjDLyD
