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UCI BMX World Challenge - men 17-24, 25-29, 30 and over, women 17 and over - Results
UCI BMX World Championships - Junior women, junior men, elite men, elite women - time trial qualification and superfinals - Results
Great Britain’s Liam Phillips recorded a career best result to take silver in the UCI BMX World Championships time-trial Superfinal as a home crowd inspired Great Britain's riders.
Phillips’ achievement was matched by Shanaze Reade, with both riders leading until the last ride in each respective race – Caroline Buchanan of Australia denying Reade whilst Connor Fields of the USA took the elite men’s title.
The results will offer plenty of encouragement to the pair ahead of the motos on Saturday and in the long-term as they prepare for the London Olympics. Elsewhere, Charlotte Green finished seventh in the junior women’s Superfinal, a feat she admitted was ‘beyond expectation’.
When asked where the result ranks in his career, Phillips said: “It’s the top for sure. I missed 2011 for one reason or the other. This was a race I’ve been looking forward to for a long time, obviously the Olympics is top of the order but you can’t overlook a world championships in your back yard.
“This is qualifying at the end of the day, racing is tomorrow and that’s what we look to so I can take a lot of confidence but at the same time I’m looking to use this to build ahead of tomorrow. I put together one of the best laps I could of. I’m not going to get carried away. As long as I push on tomorrow.
“[The home crowd] was very unusual – it’s not something I’ve had experience of, it’s fantastic, amazing.”
Reade, who added yet another world championship medal to her collection, said: “I crashed a week ago and ended up in hospital so just to come here and represent my country is a great honour so I couldn’t ask for anything more.
“I gave it my absolute best and today my best was silver position but hopefully tomorrow is a new day. A gold medal would have been absolutely great but a silver medal is fantastic.”
Green, 18, who produced a promising display in the junior women’s category, admitted that the crowd was a helping factor. “It was really good, I noticed the crowd in my first time-trial,” Green said. I didn’t expect at all to get into the Superfinal, being the only GB girl junior so I’m happy with that.”
In the World Challenge classes, Joey Gough was the highlight of the Great Britain riders, winning the final in the women 17 and over category.
Afternoon session
Earlier, Phillips, Reade and Green had booked their places in Friday night’s time-trial Superfinals.
Phillips clocked 26.516 in the men’s elite category, enough for sixth with the top 16 making the Superfinal as the USA’s Connor Fields went fastest. Reade managed a time of 30.167 in the elite women’s class, placing her ninth with current UCI world number one Caroline Buchanan continuing her strong form in 2012 with the quickest effort. British Cycling Academy programme rider Charlotte Green came seventh in the junior women’s category, registering a time of 32.574 on a demanding track at the National Indoor Arena.
The results also confirmed their places in Saturday’s motos, which will begin the path towards crowning the world champions in each category. There they will be joined by Abbie Taylor, who qualified in 21st in the elite women, Tre Whyte (42nd) and Grant Hill (46th) in the elite men, and Dan Pullen who finished 60th in junior men, just inside the 64 places who progress through. Columbia's Carlos Alberto Ramirez Yepez topping the leaderboard in 27.191.
Curtis Manaton was unfortunate to miss the cut in a strong elite men's field, finishing 88th, just under two-tenths of a second outside the top 64.
Morning session
The morning of day two had seen a number of Great Britain riders qualified through their respective categories in the UCI BMX World Challenge as the world championships continued at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham.
The men 17-24, 25-29 and 30 and over categories compete in addition to the women 17 and over class – battling for a place in the 1/4 finals which took part in the evening.
Elite men - Time trial qualifiers | Superfinal
Elite women - Time trial qualifiers | Superfinal
Junior men - Time trial qualifiers | Superfinal
Junior women - Time trial qualifiers | Superfinal
Challenge classes
