Chinese riders Sun Sibei, Sun Jiaqi, and Deng Yawen secured the top three spots in the women’s BMX freestyle park preliminaries at the ongoing Olympic Qualifier Series on Friday.
Their coach, Daniel Dhers, kept his hopes of competing in Paris alive after placing 12th in the men’s BMX event. The 39-year-old advanced through the qualification round alongside his riders, bringing the crowd at Shanghai Urban Park to a frenzy.
“They (Chinese riders) have been super, super hot, super strong. And you know today, all of them held it together, they put on phenomenal runs. It was super fun to watch them ride,” said World Champion Hannah Roberts of the United States.
Nineteen-year-old Sun Sibei, the world championships runner-up, claimed the top spot with a score of 87.40 points, followed by Sun Jiaqi with 86.70 points, and Deng with 85.40 points.
“I am proud of my girls. I helped them get organized,” Dhers told Xinhua.
In the men’s BMX freestyle park preliminaries, American Marcus Christopher clinched first place with 89.07 points, followed by Britain’s Wayne Dylan Hessey (87.29) and Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Martin Logan (86.83). Chinese cyclist Hai Yang was eliminated after finishing 20th.
Chinese athletes also excelled in sport climbing speed events. Wu Peng topped 32 athletes in the men’s preliminaries with a time of 4.94 seconds. In the women’s event, Niu Di, Wang Shengyan, Zhang Shaoqin, and Zhou Yafei advanced to the next round, with Zhou finishing second with a time of 6.62 seconds. Aleksandra Kalucka of Poland claimed first place with a time of 6.55 seconds.
Two Chinese climbers, Luo Zhilu and Pan Yufei, secured their spots in the Boulder & Lead semifinals scheduled for Saturday after finishing 6th and 11th in the women’s and men’s qualifications, respectively. Reigning Olympic champion Alberto Gines Lopez topped the field of 46 athletes.
In the women’s skateboarding street qualifying round, 14-year-old Asian Games champion Cui Chenxi secured fifth place with a score of 79.76. Her teammates Zhu Yuanling, Zhang Yan and Zeng Wenhui were also through to the semifinals.
Australian skateboarder Keefer Wilson led the men’s park qualification with a score of 84.69.