Walker wins second bronze - BMX World Championships

New Zealand’s Sarah Walker has won her second bronze medal at UCI BMX World Championships in China on Sunday(NZ time).

After finishing third in the Olympic category yesterday, Walker grabbed the bronze medal in the cruiser class world championship at Taiyuan.

The 20-year-old from Kawerau won all three of her motos to qualify for the final but was headed by the French pair of Magalie Pottier, last year’s world junior champion, and Amelie Despeaux (FRA) in the final.

Despeaux fell in front of Walker in yesterday’s Olympic category final, and after negotiating her way over the fallen bike, the New Zealander went on to grab the bronze medal.

While several of the heavyweights from yesterday’s competition bypassed the cruiser championship today, the medal performance nonetheless provided a further confidence boost for Walker in her final competitive outing before Beijing.

While the kiwi could not earn a second rainbow jersey today, she was satisfied with the effort after 10 world championship races in two days in the heat of China which has been an invaluable experience with Beijing just over two months away.

The championship concludes the Beijing qualifying period with Walker and fellow New Zealander Marc Willers to await their official rankings by the UCI to cement their official qualification for the Olympics.

There were celebrations earlier in the day for New Plymouth’s Hannah Sarten who completed a double gold medal effort, winning the 12 years and under title in the cruiser class to add to her victory in the championship class on Friday.

Results, elite women:
Final: Magalie Pottier (FRA) 42.972, 1; Amelie Despeaux (FRA) 43.178, 2; Sarah Walker (NZL) 43.674, 3.

Qualifying, heat 1: Walker 3 points, 1 (run 1 1st, run 2 1st, run 3 1st); Vilma Rimsaite (LTU) 7 pts (2, 2, 3); Aneta Hladikova (CZE) 8 pts, 3 (3, 3, 2); Kaila Sweeney (CAN) 12 pts, 4 (4, 4, 4).

Heat 2: Amelie Despeaux (FRA) 4 pts, 1 (1, 2, 1); Magalie Pottier (FRA) 7 pts, 2 (4, 1, 2); Romana Labounkova (CZE) 9 pts , 3 (3, 3, 3); Cyrille Convert (FRA) 11 pts, 4 (2, 4, 5).