Published: 31 July 2021
Images: SWpix

British riders Charlotte Worthington and Declan Brooks were in action as BMX Freestyle made its debut at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

The pair were among nine men and nine women riders who competed in a day of seeding rides at the Ariake Sports Park, with Worthington finishing in fourth place and Brooks seventh.

It was an historic occasion as the sport appeared at an Olympics for the first time and Worthington, in particular, will be hoping for medals in Sunday’s Final.

The 25-year-old from Manchester recorded high scores of 81.80 and 81.20 from the judges in her two, one-minute runs, for an average of 81.50.

That left her just 0.05 points behind Switzerland’s Nikita Ducarroz who ranked third in the seeding positions, behind American pair Hannah Roberts and Perris Benegas.

The seeding competition did not eliminate any riders but determined the order in which the nine riders will run in Sunday’s Final, with competitors setting off in reverse order.

Worthington finished third in the UCI BMX Freestyle Park World Championships in both 2019 and 2021 and will be hoping to match that achievement in the Final.

Brooks, a 25-year-old from Portsmouth, produced scores of 74.30 and 79.20 in his two runs, for an average of 76.75 with Australia’s Logan Martin leading all riders with a dominant score of 90.97.

The pair will be aiming to emulate the success of Bethany Shriever and Kye Whyte who won gold and silver, respectively, in the BMX Racing event earlier this week.

BMX Freestyle is the only Tokyo cycling event which is decided by judges, who rank riders according to difficulty, originality, execution, height and creativity.