Kiwi BMX rider pipped for bronze
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Cycling
Kawerau's Sarah Walker was left to rue a slow start and a finish that came just a few frustrating metres too soon as she narrowly missed out on a medal in a blistering final of the women's BMX at the Olympics.
The 20-year-old Kiwi, who as world No 1 heading into the Games was considered a hot medal prospect, failed to produce her trademark blazing start out of the blocks and was always on the back foot after rounding the first bend behind the leaders in the first ever BMX medal race at the Games.
A dramatic late crash to Brit Shanaze Reade on the final bend then gave Walker a late shot at the bronze but she was unable to haul in American Jill Kinter on the line, finishing a little over 0.1s behind.
France's Caroline Chausson was a commanding winner, leading all the way, and her compatriot Laetitia le Corguil made it a Gallic quinella when she headed the chasing pack home for the silver on a blisteringly hot day at the Laoshan venue. The races were postponed from Thursday after heavy rain in Beijing forced the programme to be moved back a day.
"I guess my start was OK, but the other girls' starts were slightly better and that's enough," said a disappointed Walker afterwards. "All you need in BMX is to get in front. I got pushed out the back, tried to come under that first corner, and managed to pop into third. I thought 'all right, here we go', but the Argentine girl (Gabriela Diaz) came underneath, we lost speed and a few others went past.
"I was trying to catch up, almost got back but there just wasn't enough track space. I was catching but I needed a few extra metres to get there."
Walker had been confident she could contend for a medal going into the one-off final after posting the second fastest time of the three-race semifinals in her final hitout.
"But every now and then you will have a race when you're not quite at your best. I don't think anyone's had the perfect lap, there are just so many things on the track in place, and you've just got to make do with what you can."
Walker said Reade's late spill gave her a glimmer of hope she could get up for the bronze, but Kinter responded equally as well to the opening.
"We all had to swerve which way we thought would be fastest, she swerved the right way, so did I, but she just swerved better."
In terms of the madcap event which is all over in 35 or so seconds, with plenty of thrills and spills along the way, Walker said it was hard to have too much of a pre-determined plan heading in.
"You can't plan because there's a million things that can happen," said the Kiwi who's been competing in the sport since she was 10. "I was just thinking about getting a good start, which didn't quite happen, and from there you adjust your game-plan to what situation you're in. So there's a lot of thinking going on but at the same time you can't think too much."
Still, to come as close as she did to a medal had been incredibly frustrating, she also conceded.
"I would have loved to bring a medal home to New Zealand from the first BMX, but I can now be the first person that missed out," she said, ruefully.
Earlier Walker had produced three solid rides in her semifinal series, finishing second, third and first to do all she had to to make it through to the medal ride-off.
Walker's New Zealand team-mate Kiwi Marc Willers bowed out in the semifinals of a hotly contested men's event won by Latvian Maris Strombergs. US riders Mike Day and Donny Robinson were both under a second behind him to take the minor medals.
The Cambridge-based Willers, a former world No 1, failed to fire through the three races. He got into a tangle at the first turn and then tailed the field home last in his first run, never fired a shot in the second to finish next from last and crashed on the first series of jumps in the third.
"It just wasn't my day," said the 22-year-old Willers. "I wasn't clicking. It was just one of those days, you're either on or off, and today wasn't it."
Willers admitted the amped up stakes of the first ever Olympic event had created a cauldron of an atmosphere.
"It's amazing, the pressure," he said. "It's a whole new experience for everybody just trying to sort it through your head. Yesterday was a big burn, everyone's been building up for five years for that one day, then it rains. And your brain just goes crazy, as you've got to put it off for another day.
"There were a lot of things going through the head, but you've just got to force yourself to stay positive. I thought I'd done it, but I guess not.
"I tried to treat it as just another race, maybe it got to me, maybe it didn't."
Both riders vowed to be back at the next Olympics for another tilt in four years' time.
- © Fairfax NZ News
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