Willoughby and Daudet win World Championship BMX racing titles at Rock Hill; Schriever injured. What does this foretell for Paris?
Cycling BMX Racing
The 2024 UCI BMX Racing World Championships wrapped up on 18 May in Rock Hill, South Carolina, marking the final chance for Olympic qualifying points for both nations and individual riders. Experience prevailed in what is considered the hardest race of the season, with two veteran riders, the USA’s Alise Willoughby and France’s Joris Daudet, winning the World Championship titles. Remarkably, these wins mark both riders third-world titles.
Defending Olympic gold medalist Bethany Schriever crashed out in the semi-finals with a fractured collarbone. She took to Instagram to announce her injury and share an optimistic outlook ahead of Paris, saying, “Time to get our heads down and get to work, still got one more opportunity and it’s a big one.”
The World Championships followed the sixth and final stop of the UCI World Cup in Tulsa (27–28 April), where Australian riders Saya Sakakibara and Izaac Kennedy were crowned World Cup series champions.
The 2024 UCI BMX Racing World Championships marks the final Olympic qualifying event in a lengthy qualification period that began in August 2022, encompassing two World Cup seasons, two World Championships, Continental championships and more. The UCI will publish the final Olympic rankings 4 June.
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.
Alise Willoughby wins women’s Elite World Championships
American Willoughby won the women’s elite class, marking the 33-year-old rider’s third World Championship title and a repeat of her 2017 World Championship win at Rock Hill. Switzerland’s Zoe Claessens finished in second, and the USA’s Daleny Vaughn took third place. With these top-three finishes, U.S. athletes Willoughby and Daleny clinched the nominations for Paris 2024, marking Daleny’s first nomination and a fourth for Willoughby.
Looking ahead to Paris, the U.S. women displayed dominance at Rock Hill, with four advancing into the eight-woman final, including 2022 World Champion Felicia Stansel and Carly Kane competing in her first World Championships final. These are great results for the currently UCI second-ranked U.S. women, who are currently positioned to nominate a third athlete, which is likely be announced in June.
The women’s final also included Australia’s Sakakibara who was the favorite coming into the event, she finished in eighth. The complete final results are available at UCI Racing.
Notably absent in the final were the Olympic gold medalist from Great Britain, Schriever, and the two-time Olympic gold medalist from Colombia, Mariana Pajon, who both crashed out in the semi-finals.
Joris Daudet takes the men’s Elite World Championship
France’s Joris Daudet, also 33, came back from a collarbone injury to soundly win in the men’s elite field and earn his long-awaited third World Championship title. He was chased by Tokyo 2020 gold medalist Niek Kimmann from the Netherlands in second and France’s Sylvain Andre in third. Colombia’s Carlos Ramirez finished in fourth.
These World Championships were filled with mix-ups in every single category. Among them was defending World Champion and current UCI points leader from France, Romain Mahieu, who went out in the semi-finals to finish in 14th, along with the USA’s Jeremy Smith who went down in the first turn to end in 16th. This was the best American men’s finish and likely not the result the U.S. was looking for as the men work to hold onto their UCI 4th place ranking.
The story heading into Paris continues to be France’s powerhouse of BMX racing, including Daudet, Mahieu and Andre. Expectations are also high for the Netherland’s Kimmann to defend his Olympic gold medal, and of course, Colombia’s Diego Arboleda and Carlos Ramirez.
How are nations currently ranked for quotas?
BMX Racing Olympic quota spots are secured by UCI rankings. The rankings have not yet been updated following the UCI World Championships.
The most recent rankings in women’s BMX, show the Netherlands holding on to the top spot, followed by the United States in second, which translates to three quotas for Paris 2024. Australia, Switzerland and Colombia are ranked 3 to 5, respectively, meaning they would get two quotas each. The remaining countries ranked through 10 will earn one nation quota spot.
In the men’s rankings, France already has one quota as the host nation but are in a position to obtain a total of three thanks to its dominant first-place standing. Colombia are in second, meaning they would also get three spots, followed by Switzerland, the United States and Great Britain, which each hold on to two spots. The countries ranked 6-10 will each earn one quota spot in Paris.