Beth Shriever just missed out on retaining her Olympic title in the BMX racing final after an unbeaten run all competition, while Kye Whyte crashed out in the semi-final at the Saint Quentin-en-Yvelines BMX arena.

Reigning Olympic champion Shriever started strongly in yesterday’s qualifiers, taking three straight wins in her rounds, finishing joint first with Australia’s Saya Sakakibara and Alise Willoughby from the USA in a dominant performance.

In today’s semi-final heats, Shriever sailed through her opening two runs, firing out the gate with her signature strong start, coming down the ramp and across the triple with a huge lead to take her through to the finish. The British rider finished one second ahead of the chasing pack on both occasions, before continuing to dominate with a win in her third heat to get to the final in second position; her fastest run being 34.297.

The number one seeded rider Sakakibara was also unbeaten to be Shriever’s main rival going into the final, clocking a fastest lap time of 34.162, but the British rider looked to be the more consistent over the three runs with an average of 34.321.

Lining up in her lucky gate six for the final, Shriever looked relaxed at the start, but didn’t quite show her strength out the gate and found herself bar to bar with riders coming down the ramp. Unable to find room to move, she dropped back into seventh place on the first berm. She continued to chase down the second triple but couldn’t make her way round into the final straight, crossing the line in eighth position as Sakakibara claimed the title.

Despite the disappointment, Shriever continued to smile through her interview, and said:

“I’ve loved every single second of being here. Sometimes it can’t always go to plan, that’s just life. I gave my all into this, I’m happy, I'm healthy, I’ve got my friends and family here and that’s all that matters.  

“With the [French] men going 1-2-3, it was insane. I’ve never experienced anything like it. I’ve had a great time, and it is what it is. I was just a little bit late out the start. Every other time it’d been alright. I think the other girls got flyers and that shut me down but it’s all good. I’m happy.”

Tokyo silver medallist Whyte had a bumpy start to his Olympic campaign, finishing fifth, third and fourth in his qualifying heats yesterday to qualify 10th overall.

Lining up for his first semi-final heat in gate eight, Whyte started gingerly, nursing a lingering back injury from yesterday’s efforts to finish in fifth place.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be for Whyte as he crashed out of the second semi-final heat and was immediately assessed by the on-site medical team. This was followed up by further immediate review by Great Britain Cycling Team Dr Nigel Jones who delivered a positive report, with no significant injuries, We wish him a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing him on his bike very soon.

The eighth day of competition moves back to the heart of Paris, where the team of mountain bike gold medallist Tom Pidcock, Josh Tarling, Stevie Williams and Fred Wright look to add another medal to Team GB's tally in the men’s road race.

You can watch on Discovery+ or BBC from 10:00 BST and follow the results on the British Cycling social media channels.