Kieran Reilly stormed his way to a spectacular silver medal in the BMX freestyle park final on the fifth day of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games in La Concorde in central Paris.
Whilst this is the second time BMX freestyle park has featured in the Olympic Games, Reilly marked his personal debut for Team GB by securing the silver medal.
Going in as the top qualifier after a fantastic contest yesterday, Reilly dropped in for his first run as the final rider. Reilly put out an incredible run that showed his skill and talent, starting with double bars and double truck drivers.
Reilly transferred to a big tuck no hander early on in his run to set the standard, before perfectly executing a triple whip up and over the central box, and a big table top off the island. He continued to muscle through into a double bar spin and bar spin to table top, stepping up his run with a back flip with double bars.
To finish off, he performed a big double whip and front flipped clear to run onto the centre island pumping his arms to the crowd. The British rider scored 93.70 to sit in the silver medal position going into the second runs, just behind Argentinian rider Jose Torres Gil, who led on 94.82 points.
After a big ride from home favourite Anthony Jeanjean (France) to move into second place, it was all to play for with Reilly guaranteed a medal going into his final run.
Reilly came out swinging, performing a 720 bar spin, 360 whip with two bar spins and a double whip before a huge table top to transfer wall ride. The world champion continued to pull tricks left and right, with a 720 bar spin with the whip, triple bar spin and alleyoop bar spin to table top.
With just 10 seconds to spare, Reilly put it all out there, with a 360 double whip into a flair whip, 720 double tail whip and executed a perfect double whip as the buzzer sounded. It was an agonising wait for the final score to be revealed, with Reilly scoring a 93.91 to secure the silver medal.
Speaking after the podium, Reilly said:
“It definitely didn’t let me down at all with the expectations for the Games. It was just as good as expected, just the spectacle that I thought it would be. Being here, I’ve really tried to take everything in and I’ve been super proud of making it to this stage. To get silver is the icing on the cake and I’m so proud of my ride that I got to put down today. The level in the finals was just insane and I had the best support to pull off a medal. I will be leaving here with a big smile on my face.
“When I started BMX, it wasn’t even a dream of mine to go to the Games – it wasn’t an option [until the last Olympics]. Knowing that kids now might see more of a career in the sport and parents might take their kids to a BMX club rather than a Saturday football team is amazing. We’re going to grow the sport and I hope this shows kids you don’t have to be from somewhere with the best skatepark in the world. The hard work pays off and if you’re someone that loves riding your bike, then it’s not hard work!”
Yesterday’s women’s qualifiers saw defending Olympic champion Charlotte Worthington go out of the competition before the final, scoring an average of 79.01.
The sixth day of competition takes cycling over to the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines BMX Stadium as defending Olympic champion Beth Shriever and Kye Whyte compete in the BMX racing quarter finals.
You can watch on Discovery+ or BBC from 19:00 BST and follow the results on the British Cycling social media channels.
