Saya Sakakibara sitting on top of the world as BMX racing season enters final phase

With just two rounds left of the 2023 BMX Racing World Cup season, Saya Sakakibara sits on top of the standings.

The 24-year-old Australian is in exceptional form this year, having amassed a record of three victories and two silvers across seven rounds, including gold in the most recent round in Santiago del Estero, Argentina.

It puts her in pole position for a maiden World Cup title just a year before the Olympic Games Paris 2024.

However, it wasn’t too long ago that Sakakibara took a break from the sport completely after injuries to herself and her brother had shaken her confidence and left her doubting her place in the sport.

Saya Sakakibara on facing the mental and physical challenges of BMX racing

Sakakibara’s brother Kai is the reason she competes in her sport.

At just four years old, she followed him to a BMX racing event and her passion for the sport grew from there.

But in 2020, just a year before the Olympics in Tokyo, Kai suffered a terrible crash that left him close to death.

It has been a long road to recovery for the avid racer, who was left in a coma for weeks and suffered a bleed on the brain among other injuries.

The accident also left Sakakibara fully aware of the dangers of a sport that has seen her deal with multiple concussions caused by crashes on the track.

As she explained, any doubts you have in your mind are likely to manifest themselves on the track.

"With a sport like BMX, I feel like if you have that hesitation, that's when things go wrong,’ she said. “I know what the risks involved are with hesitation.”

Tokyo 2020 was another challenging experience for Sakakibara, who crashed in the semi-finals leaving her Olympic dreams in tatters.

“I still feel the effects from Tokyo, not physically, but mentally… It took me a while to get back on the bike," she said in 2022.

"For me to have two months off the bike and not have any solid training - I'm still working on getting my confidence back.

"There's still some of that fear left. It's a challenge.”

Yet her comeback this year, inspired by the strength of character shown by her brother, has left her fighting once again for world honours, as she leads the way in a highly competitive field during this World Cup season.

Sakakibara’s quest to be crowned World Champion enters final stage

Despite the many challenges she has faced on and off the track, the Australian athlete now has the chance to claim her place as the best rider in the world today.

Her last victory on 8 October in Santiago del Estero saw her climb onto the top step of the podium ahead of Olympic champion Beth Shriever, who is also her closest challenger for the overall World Cup season title.

Rounds 9 and 10 take place on the same course in Argentina on 13 and 14 October and if Sakakibara can continue her current hot vein of form she will end the season as champion.

But perhaps the more important objective will come next year when she hopes to line up at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

"Paris is definitely a big goal for me," she said after last week's victory. "I raced at Tokyo and it was a little bit of a disappointing result, so I'm definitely (looking) for redemption."

If she does qualify for the Games, she will go there once again as a favourite but this time with the experience and knowledge of what it’s like to overcome the challenges of her sport.

And that may just be as important as any victory.

2023 BMX World Cup women's rankings with two rounds left

1. Saya Sakakibara (AUS) - 2775 points

2. Beth Shriever (GBR) - 2668 points

3. Laura Smulders (NED) - 1997 points 

4. Alise Willoughby (USA) - 1961 points 

5. Zoe Claessens (SUI) - 1878 points 

6. Molly Simpson (CAN) - 1686 points

7. Merel Smulders (NED) - 1631 points

8. Mariana Pajon (COL) - 1318 points

9. Felicia Stancil (USA) - 116 points

10. Lauren Reynolds (AUS) - 994 points

How to watch Saya Sakakibara in the final rounds of the BMX racing World Cup 

The 2023 BMX Racing World Cup season will continue to stream worldwide on the UCI YouTube channel. Competition updates, highlights and more are available on the UCI BMX Racing Instagram and other social media platforms.

The International Cycling Federation events can also be streamed through their international broadcast partners, depending on where in the world you are:

• Discovery (Discovery+, GCN+ worldwide, Eurosport Pan-European)
• Outdoorsportchannel (worldwide)
• L’Equipe (France)
• NOS (Netherlands)
• SBS (Australia)
• BEIN (Pan Asia Pacific, Australia)
• SPOTTV2 (Pan Asia)
• Edge TV (worldwide)