WOMEN’S UCI BMX FREESTYLE PARK WORLD CUP FINAL

Over the years, riders have been used to enjoying an early summer in the Montpellier region, this year again the sun is shining, perhaps even with this extreme feel that makes us all fear for the future of our rivers. It is indeed very hot for this women's final of the UCI bmx freestyle park world cup. To complete this unexpected weather forecast, note the few gusts of wind that add a bit of randomness to our twelve courageous ladies. It's not easy to predict how the wind will affect the next jump, and in view of the lack of homogeneity of the runs, we understand that the task was complicated for our riders. We think in particular of Nikita Ducarroz who could not improve her very solid first run by over-rotating on her backflip; she had to settle for third place. The most consistent in this final was Lara Lessman whose variety and originality was a treat to watch. The young German offers her own combos based on simple but elegant tricks; turndown on the spine, pedaling to table top and a double cancan Indian style; the judges, all of whom practice bmx, appreciated this proposal and propelled it to second place. After an epic Olympic final, we expected a back and forth between Charlotte Worthington and Hannah Roberts. Finally, the British did not seem comfortable during this final and quickly showed that she would not get involved in the fight. It was Liz Surley Villegas Serna who was given the responsibility of putting pressure on American Hannah Roberts by entering a first high-level run. With tricks landed with authority on all the ramps she is the only one to go over 90 points, however we remember that she landed her first 360 at the limit of the landing. At this level of competition, it often comes down to a detail. For Hannah, unfortunately, this detail was without mercy as she barely hangs up on an easy table top, which triggers a nagging pain in her shoulder. Before that the world champion had started a crazy run with a flip condor which once again shows the lightning progression of these ladies.

After this first aborted run, Hannah had a second chance to get back in front of Liz Hurley who could not therefore ensure if she wanted to win this major contest of the calendar. So Liz Hurley dropped to give it all, maybe too much since she over rotated herself in a scary frontflip. Her fall was terrible and raised fears of a serious injury. Before that, Hannah had secured a safe run to collect precious points for the overall ranking ; she finished only 4th and will have to treat this injury before the next competition in Brussels which will follow very soon.