Felicia Stancil and Simon Marquart victorious at 2021 UCI BMX Supercross World Cup Round 5 in Sakarya 

The 2021 UCI BMX Supercross World Cup was popping with surprises on Saturday (23 October) as the USA's Felicia Stancil and Swiss rider Simon Marquart stole the show in Sakarya, Turkey.

Stancil, who finished fourth at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, claimed the women's title leaving favourites Mariana Pajon and the Smulders sisters in her dust while Marquart took victory by a fraction over Joris Daudet in a thrilling photo-finish.

The first of four final race days of the season - all of which will happen in Sakarya over this weekend and next - to decide the overall champions delivered high octane action with plenty of spills and chills.

Stancil clocking 37.656 seconds to take women's victory and 150 points, putting herself in contention if she can repeat that final performance that saw her rip into the lead and storm home with a healthy lead.

Czech peddler Eliska Bartunkova finished in second clocking 38.445 seconds for 130 points, while Canadian sensation Molly Simpson - in her first ever World Cup final - claimed a podium place in third.

Simpson clocked 38.710 sec. for 100 points ahead of Laura Smulders in fourth. Brazil's Priscilla Carnaval crossed the line in fifth place with the other Smulder sister, Merel, in sixth.

That meant that double Olympic gold medallist and Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Mariana Pajon could only finish in seventh place.

But all is not lost for the Colombian superstar rider as she still sits top of the women's standings on 485 points, five ahead of Natalya Afremova with American Payton Ridenour third on 405 and Felicia Stansil leaping into contention in fourth with 315 points.

It's tighter than ever before Sunday's round 6 and with three days of racing to come, the title is there for the taking.

Four-thousandths separates Marquart and Daudet

It was so close that there was simply no way to tell who won the pulsating men's final with the naked eye.

Digitally drawn lines decided that Switzerland's Simon Marquart pipped it, his 33.971 time just millimetres ahead of Joris Daudet's 33.975.

It was a good day for Swiss riders as Cedric Butti claimed third clocking 34.311, meaning the standings were shaken up.

With Olympic champion Niek Kimmann of the Netherlands and Britain's silver medallist from Tokyo Kye Whyte both skipping the event the door was open and there was drama way before the final even started.

A crash in the semi-final on the tight first corner led to a DNF for Arthur Pilard - the previous men's standings leader - and Saturday's winners took over.

With just three days of racing to come it's Marquart and Daudet neck-and-neck at the top of the leaderboard on 430 points with Butti in third on 390.

Pilard is now fourth on 385 after he picked up 50 points for his semi-final showing and Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist Carlos Ramírez of Colombia is fifth on 360 points after he finished.

We're set for another adrenaline-fuelled day tomorrow, Sunday 24 October, and with 150 points for every race win with three races still to come, it really is anyone's game.

You can tune in live on Olympic Channel and the Olympics YouTube page.

Don't miss it!

How to watch UCI BMX Supercross World Cup in Sakarya 2021

The competition from Rounds 6, 7, and 8 will be broadcast live on Olympics.com and the Olympics YouTube channel from Sakarya, beginning at 3pm local time in Turkey (12pm UTC) on each day.

For Round 6 on 24 October there will be live coverage of the men's under-23, men's elite, and women's elite races from the quarter-finals onwards, and women's under-23 races from the semi-final heats onwards.

No territorial restrictions apply, with the streams available worldwide.