Shriever lays down a marker as she begins Olympic gold defence with three wins

Bethany Shriever laid down a marker just three months after suffering a broken collarbone to underline her status as the favourite to defend her Olympic BMX racing title.

The Manchester-based 25-year-old was something of a shock winner of this event in Tokyo three years ago, defeating Mariana Pajon, the double Olympic champion in the process. That gave her the confidence that she could challenge and beat the best in the world, adding a pair of World Championships golds and a European title in the three years since.

She relinquished that world title in Rock Hill in May, breaking a collarbone as she crashed in the semi-finals. But Shriever has recovered and looks to be unstoppable after cruising to three wins in as many runs.

Her main challenge looks to be from Australian Saya Sakakibara, who was fractionally faster than Shriever on each run, but never in the same heat. World champion Alise Willoughby, who took advantage of Shriever’s fall earlier this year, matched Shriever and Sakakibara in winning each of her heats, albeit not quite as quickly.

Shriever said: “It couldn’t have gone any better. I’m just here to enjoy myself in the race every second. The fact it is going this well is just a bonus. I’m loving every second, my friends and family are here so it’s extremely special.

“It’s mental, I had Axelle (Etienne of France) in two of my motos, the crowd was going crazy. I was expecting it, the French love BMX so it’s getting recognition and the hype it deserves.”

In Tokyo, Shriever’s gold medal was immortalised as she was raised into the air by silver medallist Kye Whyte, and he kept his chances of getting back onto the podium once again. Now, 24, Whyte was forced to battle much harder than Shriever, finishing fifth,