BMX: China's Deng takes gold in women's freestyle marked by string of falls

PARIS: China's Deng Yawen won the gold medal in a women's BMX Freestyle run marked by a string of falls at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday (Jul 31).

The jury awarded Deng a score of 92.60 for a fluid series of high-flying tricks, including her trademark double tailwhip during which she kicks her legs back and forth as if cycling in the air.

Perris Benegas of the United States took silver, while Australia's Natalya Diehm claimed bronze in a competition that took out several favourites in a series of spectacular falls.

Tokyo 2021 gold medallist Hannah Roberts of the United States put down an impressive routine but fell in her second run as she tried to outdo Deng, while local rider Laury Perez fell in the first seconds of her first run.

Czech rider Iveta Miculycova came down hard after a difficult trick in which she flew above her bike, grabbing the saddle, and China's Jiaqi Sun also fell in her second run. The audience applauded her as she got back up, with a lone small Chinese flag waving in the stands overlooking a baking Place de la Concorde.

With the Luxor pyramid in the background, Paris's oldest monument, spectators and riders at one of the Olympics' youngest sports baked in the sun, doing their best to shield themselves with umbrellas and layers of suncream.

Deng's gold is the first Chinese medal in freestyle - which became an Olympic event in Tokyo - and the result of a decade-long campaign by the communist country to focus on sports that it traditionally has not dominated.

Deng and Sun are both trained by Tokyo silver medallist Daniel Dhers of Venezuela, a BMX veteran who has trained a generation of riders at his ride park in North Carolina in the US.

Riders in the final each had two runs, of which the better one counted