Lauren Reynolds recently raced at the BMX World Championships in South Carolina taking seventh place in the final of elite women’s competition.
The 26 year-old athlete was involved in a high quality final that required a photo finish at the line, to determine American Alise Post as new world champion ahead of Australian Caroline Buchanan. Former World Champion Mariana Pajon took third place.
The win was a highly emotional one for Post, who notwithstanding the passionate home support, has also been supporting her fiancé – Australian BMX star Sam Willoughby – with his rehabilitation from a serious training accident in 2016 that left him paralysed.
Post had established a strong lead in the elite final heading into the closing straight, but Buchanan staged an incredible late challenge at the line, closing the gap by more than two bike-lengths to miss gold by just 0.08sec.
The world championship appearance continues a proud representative streak for Reynolds, with the Bunbury native having been one of the first group of athletes – along with Buchanan and Reynolds – to compete at Olympic level for Australia on two occasions.
The men’s title at the Rock Hill course was won by USA rider Corben Sharrah, ahead of the French duo of Sylvain Andre and Joris Daudet. Australia’s Bodi Tuner was sixth.
