BMX racer Alise Willoughby exclusive: “I’m still at the top of my game”
BMX racing veteran Alise Willoughby can be described as many things: America’s most decorated female BMX racer; two-time world champion and Olympic silver medalist; and, as per U.S. Cycling, even "one of the most successful BMX racers to ever swing her leg over a bike."
At 33 years old, her age has become the subject of discussion in a sport that is “hard to stay consistent at,” according to her, but it’s this wisdom and experience that gives her an edge on the younger athletes that are “knocking on the door.”
Willoughby sat down with Olympics.com ahead of the 2024 World Championships and declared that she is “more tough, resilient and happier than I’ve ever been.”
Alise Willoughby of Team United States as they jump during the Women's BMX quaterfinal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Alise Willoughby: “longevity has been on my side”
At the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, Willoughby stepped up to the start gate as the reigning world champion and fan favorite to win it all, but had a devastating fall in the semi-finals that took her out of medal contention.
“I was in great shape and it just really wasn't my day that day. It just didn’t go to plan,” she said in the interview.
**“**That happens sometimes in racing. You know, bad day, tough day at the track.”
She doesn’t look back on the missed medal with regret, but rather a step along her path and a single bad day in the mix of many good ones.
“Before, after (and) everything in between - I've had a lot of really great days that went my way,” she said, explaining the bigger picture.
Those good days have seen her rise to third place on the UCI BMX Women’s World Rankings going into the 2024 World Championships, where she will fight for a third world title.
“In this three year span,” from Tokyo to now, she explained, before turning to a question she continued to ask herself: “how long can I hang on with these young girls knocking on the door?
“And I think that I've proven to myself and those around me that I'm still at the top of my game.”
Now facing what she hopes will be her fourth Olympic Games, Willoughby is 33 years old and riddled with passion, drive, and wisdom.
“I’m the most experienced I’ve ever been…so, yeah. Longevity has been on my side.”
Sam Willoughby: husband and coach
In 2016, less than one month after Alise took a silver medal at the Olympic Games Rio 2016, her then boyfriend, Sam Willoughby, suffered a freak accident on a BMX track he had run hundreds of times before that left him paralyzed from the chest down.
The pair’s lives were turned upside down, but today - nearly eight years later, they are happily married and also work together as coach and athlete.
Similar to Alise, Sam boasts two world titles and an Olympic silver medal. He had coaching experience prior to the accident and after time adjusting to what would become the new normal, the two were married and later settled into their new professional roles.
“It works really well,” Alise said, talking about balancing their coach-to-athlete relationship with their marriage.
“He's not a drill sergeant…unless he really has to be,” she laughed.
The dynamic works, she explained, because both of their lives have revolved around BMX for as long as they can remember, so they don’t find it necessary to draw hard lines between when conversations can be had, and when they can’t.
“It's not necessarily like, hey, when we leave the track, we're not going to talk about BMX anymore. It's impossible to think that; that's our life. So we definitely bleed over and talk about things at all times and I think some of the best conversations actually happen for us…when I can be the most vulnerable.”
Having said that, it still isn’t a walk in the park…“you gotta have tough skin,” she smiled.
Sam and Alise both competed at London 2012 and Rio 2016, so Tokyo 2020 was the first time they went to the Olympics as coach and athlete and if Alise secures a spot to her fourth Olympic Games, the world hopes to see what the pair is capable of on a good day.