How a fourth-place finish in Tokyo is fueling BMX racer Felicia Stancil
In BMX racing at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, Great Britain’s Bethany Shriever took gold, with a time of 44.358. Silver went to Colombia’s Mariana Pajon with 44.448, followed by Dutch racer Merel Smulders taking the bronze, racing in 44.721.
Finishing less than a second behind Shriever, American Felicia Stancil finished in a time of 44.721. It wasn’t enough to make the podium.
But ending the competition so close to a medal has pushed Stancil in the years since Tokyo.
“I learned a lot from the Tokyo Olympics, and if anything, it gave me more hunger to push myself more. I started to work with a new coach, and I see my numbers getting higher and higher in the gym, and my times getting better. Working harder, and I think that fourth place has fueled me a lot for the upcoming Olympics,” Stancil said in a January interview with NBC Chicago.
Stancil won the 2022 UCI World Championships, then took 12th in last year’s world championship. She’s finished top 10 in every 2024 World Cup race, and if rankings hold, is poised to be one of the American BMX racers headed to Paris 2024.
As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.
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How Felicia Stancil shares BMX racing with her father
When Stancil was just three years old, her mother Samantha died in a car accident. One year later, her father introduced her to the sport that he loved: BMX racing. Jamie Stancil had raced in regional events in the Midwest and event tried the professional circuit, but he moved on from the sport when he met his wife and had a family.
But sharing the sport mean that Jamie and Felicia could build a bond over BMX racing.
“He showed me the sport when I was four years old, and it’s just something we had a huge passion for. We traveled all across the country, and all around the world, starting at such a young age, it’s been really something special that we’ve shared together,” Stancil said.
BMX racing isn’t for the fainthearted. Stancil showed a fearlessness early on that would come in handy as her racing career progressed.
“I begged my dad one day to take off the training wheels and I had no trouble riding a (two-wheeled) bike,” Stancil said in an interview with the Daily Herald. “He didn’t have to help me at all. Then he brought me to the (BMX) track one day and he asked me if I wanted to do it. I said, ‘Yes,’ and I’ve been riding since then.”
The United States women are currently ranked second in the world, and if those numbers hold, they will obtain three quota spots in BMX racing for Paris 2024. Stancil is ninth in the world, and second among American women, so it is looking ever-more likely she is going to participate in her second Olympic Games. The U.S. team will be announced in late June.
Since her father couldn’t go to Tokyo to cheer her on in 2021, one of the things Stancil is most looking forward to is her father getting to see her race. They have shared the sport for more than two decades, and are hoping for one more special experience.