Australia’s Saya Sakakibara Takes Gold in BMX Racing at Paris Games

Saya Sakakibara seriously considered quitting BMX racing a few years ago. She had fallen and suffered a concussion during the Tokyo Olympics, and she’d also suffered another concussion that same year, and she couldn’t help but think about her brother.

Kai Sakakibara was forced to put an end to her racing career in 2020 after suffering a severe brain injury during a World Cup event.

“I was really not enjoying it,” Saya Sakakibara said. “After the second concussion, I really thought that was the end for me.”

But before Tokyo, she was riding so well, she couldn’t help but think about what could have been. So she decided to head to Paris, knowing that if she lined everything up at the right time, it would be enough to win the gold medal.

It happened on a Friday night at a BMX course just outside the city.

Sakakibara beat American rider Alyse Willoughby in the first corner and was never tested again. She surged over jumps and steps to the top of the podium. Manon Veenstra of the Netherlands took second and Zoe Klassens of Switzerland took third.

Sakakibara’s partner Romain Mahieu won the bronze medal earlier that night, wrapping up the men’s victory for France.

“After Tokyo,” Sakakibara said, “I think that concussion was probably the start of kind of that emotional roller coaster that I had, and maybe up until that I point I hadn’t really revisited or dealt with the emotions that I had after Kai’s accident.

“But reflecting back on Tokyo, before the crash I was doing pretty good, and I think there was that burning desire of what could have been. And if i gave it all up then, I would be very, very disappointed that I didn’t give it another crack.”

Three-time world champion Willoughby finished sixth in the finals after being shoved back after the first corner. The current Olympic champion, British rider Bethany Shriever, placed last in the eight-rider finals and was never in the medal mix.

“It was a tough one. Tough one to swallow,” said Willoughby, whose only medal in four Olympics remains the silver she won in 2016 in Rio. “Just disappointed, obviously, but chin still up, you know?”

The three riders seen as medal favorites won the preliminary heats, which ended just as a thunderstorm drenched the covered BMX track next to the National Velodrome of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines on Thursday night.

With one semifinal remaining, Willoughby was the first rider to be eliminated after finishing second to Sakakibara in her first run and then being knocked back to seventh in her second. Until Claessens got beside her on the last straight, she was comfortably in second place. However, Willoughby used a bike throw at the line to take second in a photo finish.

She gained the points she needed to advance to the finals thanks to that. Pajon, who was tied with Frenchwoman Axelle Etienne for the final berth but lost in the tiebreaker, suffered the consequences.

Sakakibara then demonstrated her superiority in the field during the finals.

Standing next to her at the podium were two surprises: Veenstra and Claessens.

“I didn’t really do great in the semis, and I was just like, ‘OK, go full gas,’” Claessens said. “I’ll pick the outside, go full gas and it worked out, and I’m very happy.”