Australia’s Kisten Dellar has rode out of her skin to claim second in the women’s BMX final, while an unlucky Matt Dunsworth was knocked out in the semi-finals at Tampines Bike Park.

Dellar was in it to the death, but was pipped to first place by deserved winner Mayara Perez by 0.435 seconds, with Maarttje Hereijgers from Netherlands wrapping up the top three.

Dunsworth was involved in two incidents that cruelled his chance of replicating his teammate’s podium finish and finished in tenth.

Dellar, second, and Dunsworth, fourth, got the day off to a good start as they both performed well in their seeding time trials ensuring they kept away from fellow favourites until later in the competition.

Moving into the quarter finals, the pair performed solidly as Dellar was undefeated in her three races, with Dunsworth claiming two seconds before winning the final race of his heat.

Dellar again cruised through the semi-finals winning one and coming runner up twice, while Dunsworth didn’t fare as well.

After looking good as he claimed third in the opening race, Dunsworth went high on the first corner and couldn’t avoid the carnage that went on ahead as the Aussie joined two others on the deck leaving him in sixth.

Knowing he needed a strong performance to force his way into the final, Dunsworth struck trouble again as he got pushed off the track, losing momentum and finishing at the back of the pack in the final race to bow out at the semi-finals stage.

Colombia’s David Oquendo went on to take out the men’s final, with Twan van Gendt of Netherlands finishing second, with Denmark’s Niklas Laustsen claiming third.

It was down to Dellar to show the cycling world what the Aussies were made of as she lined up for the one race final.

Flying out of the blocks, Dellar was second behind eventual winner Perez at the first turn before pulling alongside the outside of the Brazilian in the second straight.

With the outside line the Brazilian held Dellar out wide for the second corner, but Dellar continued to chase the Perez to the line just falling short and claiming second for Australia.

“I thought I had her going down that second straight but I just stood up a little and she got on the inside of me a little more than I wanted her to,” Dellar said.

“It’s a podium so I’m happy. It was definitely great today but I just have to get back out there on Sunday and do the same thing.”

While Dellar was happy with her effort her teammate was a bit disappointed with the way the semi finals panned out.

“I’m not that happy, but that’s BMX, anything can happen,” Dunsworth said.

Attention will now turn to the time trial for Dellar and the road race for Dunsworth on August 22 and while Dellar was looking forward to the challenge, Dunsworth appeared to have a cheeky plot to bring down the road race specialists.

“I have been speaking to most of the BMX dudes and we’re thinking we’re just going to get our sprint on from the start, sprint in front of all the roadies and then just hang twenty wide on the track and block them all out.”

Despite moving up the overall team rankings, the Aussies will really need to be at their best to claim a medal when competition wraps up on August 22.

Matt Bartolo

AOC