Kiwi BMX rider Sarah Walker has taken both the Elite and Cruier titles in the weekend’s racing in Adelaide for the BMX World Champs 2009. She beat France’s Manon Valentino and Lithuania’s Vilma Rimsaite to take the Cruiser win convincingly after also winning her three motos.

Sarah stoked on her win.
Photo: Evan Jeffrey, BikeNZ

Sarah Walker  added the cruiser title to the BMX Elite World Champ title she won earlier in the weekend’s racing at the indoor track in the Adelaide Showgrounds. She is believed to be the first Elite woman to win the double of the BMX and Cruiser class world titles (a cruiser is a 24″ wheel BMX, in case you don’t follow BMX at all…). Fellow Rotorua club rider Tania Carson also qualified for the final, finishing sixth after finishing seventh, fifth and fourth in the three qualifying motos.

In the Junior women, Columbian rider Mariana Pajon took both the Cruiser and BMX titles, showing a huge amount of promise for a young athlete. The 18 year old  became the BMX Junior Women BMX World Champion title holder on Saturday after a convincing win. In what she described as “an important victory for her country,” Pajon cleared second place getter Merie van Benthem (NED) by over a second, with fellow Dutch rider Maartje Hereijgers collecting third. You can watch that race on Freecaster, click below:

In the BMX World Champs on Saturday, Sarah Walker took the rainbow jersey, with Eva Ailloud of France in second and American Arielle Martin in third. World Cup 4x racer Jana Horakova rode the BMX World Champs rather than the 4x in Mont Sainte Ann’s WC round, and made it count with a fourth place.

Sarah Walker took the double championship win after four months off the bike. Her only disappointment was that last year’s champion Shanaze Reade and Olympic silver medallist Laëtitia le Corguillé were missing with injury. Laëtitia le Corguillé was injured after a crash in the practice session yesterday and decided not to race. 4x Champ Caroline Buchanan was also out of action due to a back injury. Sarah said: “Some might say that this win was soft because they were missing. I would have loved to have had them here because I was riding that well I believe I would have still won and won really well.”

Sarah checking out her winning results .
Photo: Evan Jeffrey, BikeNZ

Sharon Payne from BikeMedia Australia interviewed Sarah Walker for the press release:

Walker, who was on cloud nine after her world championship double, said it had been difficult to focus today after her brilliant victory last night.

“I did manage to get plenty of sleep because I really wanted to give it my best shot today,” Walker said. “But I had the attitude today that I was so pleased with my performance whatever happened. So I pretty much muddled through the motos.”

She did more than that, winning all three impressively in the three fastest times in all the qualifying heats. “Then I just talked myself into focusing. I played some music and got myself into the zone. I knew I could do the double and really concentrated on putting down a smooth lap.” Walker nailed the final, bursting first out of the start and winning by more than a second in 32.218, the fastest time of the day. She finished ahead of yesterday’s silver medallist, Manon Valentino from France with Lithuania’s Vilma Rimsaite third.

“This hasn’t sunk in yet. This morning I really didn’t have the time to think that I had become a world champion because I had to prepare for today.

“This is a huge confidence boost for me. I came to these championships with confidence in my own ability because I knew I had done the training and the hard work. Now I know I can be the best and I can foot it with the best.

“I’ll take some time now to re-evaluate things and plan ahead. There’s a lot to do and still a lot of improvement in me. We have the Olympic qualification starting this year and I have more world championships to come. But the big goal is obviously the London Olympics. That is the ultimate dream.”

The other races are on Freecaster.tv, click for the Junior Women final, Elite Women semi-final 1, Elite Women semi-final 2, Junior Women semi-final 1, Junior Women semi-final 2.

Full results will be on the UCI website soon.

Results, UCI MBX Cruiser World Championships:

Elite women final:
1 Sarah WALKER (NZL)
2 Manon VALENTINO(FRA)
3 Vilma RIMSAITE(LTU)
4 Eva AILLOUD(FRA)
5 Andrea ZULUAGA (COL)
6 Tania CARSON(NZL)

Junior women:
1 Mariana PAJON (COL)
2 Maartje HEREIJGERS(NED)
3 Ashley VERHAGEN(USA)
4 Teagan O’KEEFFE (RSA)
5 Armonie SAILLY(FRA)
6 Cherie SIMPSON(AUS)
7 Mayara PEREZ (BRA)
8 Elyse IMBER (NZL)

UCI BMX World Championships:
Elite Women
1 Sarah WALKER (NZL)
2 Eva AILLOUD (FRA)
3 Arielle MARTIN (USA)
4 Jana HORAKOVA (CZE)
5 Samantha COOLS (CAN)
6 Manon VALENTINO (FRA)
7 Nicole CALLISTO (AUS)
8 Gabriela Maria DIAZ (ARG)

Junior Women
1 Mariana PAJON (COL)
2 Merle VAN BENTHEM (NED)
3 Maartje HEREIJGERS (NED)
4 Rachel BRACKEN (AUS)
5 Dominique DANIELS (USA)
6 Alexandra WILLIAMS (NZL)
7 Alise POST (USA)
8 Lauren REYNOLDS (AUS)

Older: Close times in Mont Sainte Anne qualifying

Fresher: Who is Martha Hucker?

Published on 26/07/2009 by Martha Hucker.