WAIS scholarship holder Lauren Reynolds has won a silver medal at the BMX World Championships in New Zealand in the elite women’s class.
The result was made sweeter for the Bunbury born athlete, with her training partner and close friend Caroline Buchanan winning the gold medal in an Australian one-two.
Reynolds’ result owed part in luck, after US rival Alise Post made a critical mistake on the final straight to plummet from second out of contention, but as the 2012 London Olympian capitalised on the American’s mistake, nothing could detract from her gutsy performance, having ridden superbly from the worst possible starting gate position, into medal contention after a great start and exceptional technical skills to avoid traffic through the dangerous first bend.
There were further surprises with the Olympic champion Marianna Pajon of Columbia mistiming her start and slipping out of contention early, with all riders negotiating the first turn, the gold medal came down to one long sprint which Australia’s Buchanan was first to reach. Reynolds in second held off France’s Manon Valentino to round out the podium.
A delighted Reynolds said that silver was a reward for a well planned World Championship preparation that focused on racing her best race.
“My goal was to just to race as well as I know I can. Not to put too much pressure on myself but just to perform like I want to and definitely top three is always on the cards and always a goal, yeah so second, I’ll take it,” Reynolds said.
“My training went perfectly to plan. We spent two weeks on the gold coast on our super cross track and I’ve been racing in America a lot earlier this year so I’ve had plenty of race experience and I did some fine touches on the big wheel before we came over so yeah I can’t complain. It’s all good.
“Racing in New Zealand is just like home so I love it. The crowd was awesome, the kiwis and the Aussies got behind me so I absolutely love it and I love coming over here, and it’s just like home so it’s good.”
