Great Britain Cycling Team’s Kyle Evans and Ross Cullen just missed out on medals at the 2018 UCI BMX World Championships in Azerbaijan.
Evans finished sixth in his first-ever elite men’s final after a crash in front of him prevented him from challenging for the podium places.
Cullen took fifth in the junior men’s final after a day of consistently strong racing in Baku.
Elite men
Tre Whyte started the competition well and looked a sure-fire pick for the latter stages – but a crash in the motos saw him fail to finish his final run, with it later confirmed that the British rider had suffered a dislocated shoulder.
Both Quillan Isidore and Kye Whyte bowed out in the 1/8 finals – with the two riders having showed terrific form up until that point.
That left Kyle Evans as the sole British representative in the elite men’s competition and the Wigan rider showed his class to progress through to his first-ever world championships final.
Evans started well – but at the penultimate corner, two riders crashed in front of him and he unclipped in attempting to avoid the collision, costing him any chance of a medal.
Frenchman Sylvain Andre pipped his international teammate Joris Daudet to the gold in a photo finish.
Junior men
Both Tian Isidore and Ross Cullen started well, easing through the moto rounds – with Cullen claiming wins in the first two runs.
The form continued in the quarter-finals with both riders comfortably booking a spot in the semis.
Cullen was strong in his semi-final, taking second place – but Isidore missed out, finishing fifth after an excellent recovery from a slower start.
That placed Cullen in his first men’s junior world championships final – and despite a great start, it wasn’t to be for the Preston rider – finishing fifth as Leo Garoyan of France took the rainbow stripes.
Elite women
2017 junior world champion Beth Shriever showed the skills that earned her an elite world cup win last month, with a number of consistently strong performances in the motos.
That earned Shriever a spot in the quarter-finals – but in a heat alongside Alise Willoughby and Laura Smulders, Shriever could only finish fifth to end her run.
Junior women
Libby Smith made it through the motos after a series of competitive runs but saw her world championships ended in the quarter-final stages.
Her teammate Elissa Bradford was unlucky not to join her in the quarter-finals after suffering a crash in the opening run. The young Great Britain Cycling Team star picked herself up – but finished two points shy of a place in the next round.
