Rain postpones BMX finals

Fairfax Media

RAINED OUT: Kiwi BMX riders Sarah Walker and Marc Willers have waited five years to race in an Olympic final but will have to wait a little longer.

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Kiwi BMX riders Sarah Walker and Marc Willers have waited five years to race in an Olympic final but will have to wait a little longer.

Rain yesterday saturated the clay-based course on the outskirts of Beijing forcing officials to postpone the finals day at the Laoshan venue.

But the forecast is brighter for today which should allow for the covers to be lifted and the Olympic's newest sport to find its first gold medallists.

Both New Zealanders still have to qualify for the final having reached the semi-finals where two heats of eight riders will contest three runs.

The top four cyclists from each heat will progress to the finals where the medals will be determined on just one run through.

Walker's main goal will be to first qualify for the final but to go through ranked No. 1, allowing her first choice of lanes and the inside running for the big race.

She may be in the opposite heat to reigning world champion and race favourite, Shanaze Reade, but still faces a tough run which includes French woman Anne-Caroline Chausson, the world championship silver medallist and rider who qualified with the fastest time.

Willers, the former world No. 1, showed plenty of promise in his quarter-final runs on Wednesday to progress to the semi-finals where he finds himself in the same heat as American Mike Day, the only rider to go through undefeated after day one.

World champion and race favourite, Maris Strombergs from Latvia, won two of his quarter-final runs to ensure he will be closely watched in the finals.

Both Willers and Walker are not the only Kiwis to have their Games stymied by the weather with Marina Erakovic having to wait three days to eventually complete her first round match against Japan's Ayumi Morita.

The BMX finals will now clash with the woman's cross-country mountain bike race which starts today and features Christchurch cyclist Rosara Joseph.

The Commonwealth Games silver medallist, who was fifth at the world championships last year, has faced an uphill battle to reach the Games having been forced off her bike for a large chunk of her build-up with a broken ankle.

Norway's Gunn-Rita Dahle has dominated the sport since winning the gold medal in Athens four years ago and is picked to claim her second straight Olympic title.

Dunedin cyclist Kashi Leuchs will contest the men's mountain biking competition tomorrow.

- © Fairfax NZ News