Kye Whyte took his first steps towards Tokyo 2020 with an eighth-place finish in the UCI BMX Supercross World Cup in Santiago del Estero, Argentina.

As the first event that contributes towards qualification for the next summer Olympics in Japan, it was the perfect start to the event as Whyte crossed the line first in his heat with a time of 31.505s.

Fellow Brit Paddy Sharrock edged through in fourth in his heat, while Kyle Evans continued the momentum by qualifying with a second-place finish in his opener.

Quillan Isidore crashed out but his day wasn't done there, finishing first in the last-chance qualifier to make it through to the next stage.

Brits against Brits

The luck of the draw then went against the Brits as three of the four were pitted against each other in the same heat of the 1/16 finals.

Evans blasted through his heat, finishing in second place again to go through comfortably.

Whyte finished second in the British-packed heat, with Sharrock scraping through in fourth again, but once more Isidore couldn’t get around the course and exited the competition.

Close quarter-finals

The intensity stepped up in the 1/8 finals and only Whyte progressed to the quarter finals, with Evans getting edged out by less than a second and Sharrock crossing the line last in the final heat.

In the quarter-finals it was a close encounter for Whyte, who made it through in fourth in his heat with a time of 31.987s to progress to the semi-finals.

Bethany Shriever was the sole female Brit and impressed in the first round, qualifying with a time of 35.903s, but couldn’t make it through her quarter final.

While in a dramatic semi-final, Whyte just edged through after a big crash on the first corner, and was in fifth going down the last straight until Frenchman Eddy Clerte came off the track in front of him, sending him through to the main event.

But his luck was to run out in the podium race, finishing eighth in a tight shootout with victory going to the United States' Corben Sharrah.

All the British riders will be back on action on Sunday, taking to the start gate for the eighth and final round of the World Cup season.