Australia set to attack the BMX Racing World Championships

Australia will be hoping to crown its first Elite world champion in 10 years when the 2024 UCI BMX Racing World Championships get underway in the USA later this week.

Taking place in Rock Hill, South Carolina from May 16–18, the championships will decide the best riders in the world across the Elite, Under-23 and Junior categories.

The ARA Australian Cycling Team will have 16 riders in the event, including recently crowned World Cup champions Saya Sakakibara and Izaac Kennedy.

Sakakibara will aim to go at least one better than last year’s championships, where she just missed the podium. Meanwhile, the event will mark Kennedy’s return to racing for the rainbow jersey after missing Glasgow due to a knee injury.

Oliver Moran (Under-23 Men) and Teya Rufus (Junior Women) will also be strong contenders for a rainbow jersey, having won their respective U23 World Cup titles earlier this year.

The 2024 UCI World Championships are the final qualification event for the 2024 Olympic Games. Australian team selections for Paris will be made after the World Championships, so athletes have everything to race for in Rock Hill.

Australia last won an Elite world title in 2014 when Sam Willoughby took the title in Rotterdam. Caroline Buchanan was Australia’s last Elite Women’s world champion, claiming the 2013 crown in Auckland.

ARA Australian Cycling Team member Izaac Kennedy said: “I feel great and confident in how I’m riding at the moment and the good results always help. I’m just happy with where I’m at and excited for the opportunities coming up.

“I’ve been putting in a lot of work on the bike and in the gym. I’ve gotten a lot stronger over the past few months and that’s been a point of my training, working as hard as possible and doing what I can with recovery and nutrition well.

“I’ve raced (at Rock Hill) a lot, actually, on the USA BMX circuit, and I got my first World Cup podium there when I was 18, so I’ve got some good memories too. It’s pretty basic out there and there’s lots of room to open up the throttle.

“I am for sure excited to race another World Championships and have an opportunity to be world champion. It’s always one of the most exciting races of the year and there’s a lot of hype and pressure around it, and I think that’s when I ride my best.”

ARA Australian Cycling Team member Saya Sakakibara said: “I am feeling good. There is obviously more at stake at the World Championships, but in the end, the same processes need to be followed just as the World Cups. I can take a lot of confidence from not just results this season, but my consistency in my performance over the last 12 months, to expect the same high performance from myself.

“In this phase of training, it is more about repetition in executing what I’ve got already. Since what I’ve been doing so far has been working, and I believe that I am in a good spot, I’ve been focusing on being consistent in training more than being faster: for example, having consistent gate times or not making mistakes.

“I’ve raced here before in 2022. I believe it is a USA-style track that is quite flat, and you have to work for your speed. It’s not hard to get around; it’s challenging to go fast on it.

“Last year was disappointing, but looking back, I wasn’t ready to win – my preparation wasn’t the best and I was not in the best mindset. I have grown a lot since then, and I have confidence that this year, I am ready.”

ARA Australian Cycling Team

Elite Men

• Jack Davis (Tamworth BMX)
• Izaac Kennedy (Nerang BMX)
• Joshua McLean (Knox BMX)

Elite Women

• Sienna Pal (Terrigal BMX)
• Lauren Reynolds (Bunbury BMX)
• Saya Sakakibara (Southlake-Illawarra BMX)

U23 Men

• Jesse Asmus (Nerang BMX)
• Jordan Callum (Hills BMX)
• Joel Marsh (Happy Valley BMX)
• Oliver Moran (Manning Valley BMX)

U23 Women

• Isabell May (Frankston BMX)

Junior Men

• Noah Elton (San Remo BMX)
• Joshua Jolly (Ballarat-Sebastopol CC)
• Preston Murray (Happy Valley BMX)
• Bailey Seckold (Ashmore BMX)

Junior Women

• Teya Rufus (Maryborough BMX)

The 2024 UCI World Championships will be streamed live via SBS On Demand. Check local guides for broadcast times.

SBS On Demand Coverage

UCI Event Hub

UCI Event Schedule

Main Image: AusCycling Michram Industries