Post, Crain earn Championship medals at BMX Worlds

Pietermartizburg, South Africa (July 31, 2010) – The Elite and Junior Championship Class competitions are the highlight of the UCI BMX World Championships and for what may have been the first time for the Americans, on Saturday it  was all about the ladies. Nineteen-year-old Alise Post (Saint Cloud, Minn./Redline Bicycles) earned the bronze medal in the elite women’s contest and Brooke Crain (Visalia, Calif./Clayborn-Monster Energy) just missed the junior women’s world title finishing second.
 
In the elite women’s final at the Royal Showgrounds in Pietermartizburg, South Africa, Great Britain’s Shanaze Reade earned her third BMX World Championship medal this time in the form of gold jumping out front from the gun in the afternoon’s final. New Zealand’s Sarah Walker claimed the silver and Post the bronze medal with neither able to close the gap on the fast-starting Reade. Last year’s World Cup series winner Arielle Martin (Pleasant Grove, Utah/Intense-Monster Energy) finished eighth in the final after an early-race tangle.
 
In the junior women’s final, Netherland’s Merle van Benthem again grabbed the holeshot from the start and beat off the challenge of Crain who was closing the gap. Crain settled for the silver while Australian Melinda McLeod finished third. Taylor Wolcott (Roseville, Calif./Tangent) also had a strong showing in the junior women’s contest finishing just out of the medals in fourth.
 
The medals mark the first major success for USA Cycling’s newly implemented BMX Women’s Development Program.  
 
One of several pre-race favorites, Connor Fields (Henderson, Nev./Free Agent-Rockstar) was leading the junior men’s final before a slip up on the rhythm section caused him not to finish and settle for eighth place. Frenchman Sylvain Andre went on to win the junior men’s world title. After qualifying third, American Corben Sharrah (Tucson, Ariz./Redman-Rockstar), who earned World Cup bronze medal in the elite men’s division earlier in the season, was unable to make the final.
 
Youngsters Denzel Stein (Desoto, Texas/Redline Bicycles) and Joshua Meyers (Treasure Island, Fla./Factory S Squared-Troy Lee Designs) did not make the elite men’s main. Stein and Meyers were added to the U.S. squad after former world champions Donny Robinson (Napa, Calif./Hyper-Monster Energy) and Kyle Bennett (Conroe, Texas/Free Agent-Rock Star) were unable to compete due to injury. This year’s competition marks the first time the United States has not brought home a medal from the men’s championship portion of the UCI BMX World Championships in nearly a decade.
 
The pair of Championship Class medals brings the United States medal total to 11 after earning nine medals in the firsttwo days of amateur Challenge Class competition. The Cruiser Class contests will wrap up the 2010 UCI BMX World Championships in South Africa on Sunday.  
 
Photo caption: Brooke Crain gets ready to push off for the start of her medal-winning run.
Photo courtesy: Jerry Landrum/BMXmania.com
 
Pietermartizburg, South Africa
July 29 – Aug. 1
 
Championship Class
 
ELITE MEN:
1. Maris Strombergs (LAT) 38.391
2. Sifiso Nhlapo (RSA) +0.487 2,
3. Joris Daudet (FRA) +0.686
4. Thomas Hamon (FRA) +1.340
5. Raymon Van der Biezen (NED) +1.487
6. Marc Willers (NZL) +1:01.301
7. Sam Willoughby (AUS) +1:01.349
8. Khalen Young (AUS) +1:01.414
 
WOMEN:
1. Shanaze Reade (GBR) 38.819
2. Sarah Walker (NZL) +1.096
3. Alise Post (St. Cloud, Minn.) +1.624
4. Annelie Despeaux (FRA) +2.986
5. Aneta Hladikova (CZE) +3.411
6. Rachel Bracken (AUS) +4.212
7. Laetitia le Corguille (FRA) +34.963
8. Arielle Martin (Pleasant Grove, Utah)
 
JUNIOR MEN:
1. Sylvian Andre (FRA) 38.822
2. Kristers Lejins (LAT) +1.012
3. Twan van Gendt (NED) +1.407
4. David Oquendo Zabala (COL) +1.639
5. Matthew Dunsworth (AUS) +2.033
6. Niclas Laustsen (DEN) +2.462
7. Taims Kristers (LAT) +13.667
8. Connor Fields (Henderson, Nev.)
 
JUNIOR WOMEN:
1. Merle Von Bentheim (NED) 40.946
2. Brooke Crain (Visalia, Calif.) +0.158
3. Melinda Mcleod (AUS) +0.658
4. Taylor Wolcott (Roseville, Calif.) +1.394
5. Enora le Roux (FRA) +3.626
6. Bianca Quinalha (BRA) +3.811
7. Mayara Perez (BRA) +8.189
8. Kirsten Dellar (AUS) +32.572


This Article Published July 31, 2010 For more information contact: