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Olympic BMX: GB's Reade and Phillips miss out, women's gold to Colombia's Pajon, men's to Latvia's Strombergs again

Bad start in final costs Reade dear, Phillips off to a flier but unclips and then crashes

Great Britain's Shanaze Reade, who crashed in the BMX final in Beijing four years ago, has missed out on an Olympic medal again as a bad start from the inside lane of the starting gate saw her always playing catch-up to her rivals, finishing sixth. Colombia's Mariana Pajon took the win, only the second summer Olympic gold medal in her country's history, with Sarah Walker of New Zealand claiming silver and Laura Smulders of the Netherlands securing bronze. In the men's event, a storming start from defending champion Maris Strombergs of Latvia saw him retain his title ahead of Australia's Sam Willoughby, with Carlos Oquendo winning bronze. British rider Liam Phillips got a great start but fell away after one of his feet unclipped and was caught up in a crash as he drifted back through the field.

Reade, like Phillips, had looked good in today's semi-finals in which she rode three heats in the hour and a half preceding the final, but afterwards she said that heavy programme was one of the reasons she didn't perform to her best when it came to the one race that determined the medals - although it should be pointed out, of course, that everyone else reached the final through a similar route.

“Today’s schedule has been pretty hard with the back to back laps and obviously with the short recoveries it’s been hard to get on top of that," she said. “I just tried to stay focused and do the best I could and today it just wasn’t good enough.”

Meanwhile Phillips, who broke his collarbone in the world championships in Birmingham in May but battled back to ensure he would be at the Olympics, was left to rue what might have been.

“I've defied all expectation to be here let alone be a contender, so I should be pleased with my performance even though I’m disappointed now,” he reflected. “It was the best start of my life, and that’s what you aim to do at the Olympics. But I overshot the second jump, and probably my first too - that’s how fast I came out of the gate.”

 

 

 

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Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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4 comments

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antonio | 11 years ago
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I must be psychic Shanaze is on BBC breakfast now and confirmed her thoughts are back on track now Vicki has retired.

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antonio | 11 years ago
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With a bit of luck Shanaze will now get back to what I think she's best at, riding the velodrome, Vicki has left a massive hole there.

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pward | 11 years ago
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All looked a bit "stones paper scissors" to me, not that I'd be up there risking my neck mind you. #lottery

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Some Fella | 11 years ago
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The minute i saw David Cameron in the crowd i knew it was all over.

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