Women’s BMX Freestyle competition began with Hannah Roberts a favorite to medal after posting the highest qualifying scores the day before. Robert’s medal hopes ended with two falls and unfinished runs. Deng Yawen was the only rider to score two runs in the nineties and her run of 92.60 secured the gold. American Perris Benegas’ clean and smooth second run won her silver while Natalya Diehm captured bronze for Australia. 

Benegas couldn't believe it after her silver finish, "it hasn’t even set in yet. I’m just over the moon.”

FULL RESULTS

Perris Benegas

The two-time Olympian was looking to better her fourth-place finish in Tokyo. The American rider had a clean ride but a lower degree of difficulty than some of her competitors. The run earned an 83.40, which put her in third before the final three top riders hit the course.

Sun Jiaqi 

The Chinese rider crashed hard in the final ten seconds of her race. Until then she had a clean run that featured high air and clean tricks that would’ve put her at the top with two riders to go. Sun crashed while attempting a front flip and earned a 70.80.

Deng Yawen

Eighteen-year-old Deng qualified in the No. 2 position with two scores in the nineties. Her highlight trick of the run was a triple bar spin. She’s one of the only women competing who can land the trick. She also executed a clean double tail whip and tuck no-hander back flip. The judges rewarded her with a 92.50. 

Hannah Roberts

After watching the rest of the field compete, the stage was set for the American. Her run was near perfect until the final ten seconds when she attempted a front flip and it ended with a hard slam to the ground. She didn’t have enough speed to complete the rotation. Roberts took some time to get up off the ground and eventually acknowledged the crowd.  

Natalya Dehm

Unlike her fellow competitors, Dehm chose to attempt a front flip as the first trick of her second run. The gamble paid off and she was the only rider who landed the trick the entire day of competition. Despite the show-stopping move, her first run of 88.80 slightly bested her second of 87.70. She’d have to wait for the remaining runs to see if she’d hold onto the podium. 

The Aussie knew she wanted to leave the Olympics proud of her runs regardless of the outcome. “Whether I made it here to the Olympics, whether I made it to the finals or not, I wanted to go out on the terms that I chose ... so to do this now is almost unbelievable. If you asked me two, three years ago, I did not think this was possible.”

Benegas

She entered the run in fifth and on a day full of falls, the oldest rider in the competition rode to her strengths instead of maybe trying a trick out of her wheelhouse. She turned it on in the back half of her run and landed clean trick after clean trick and made it look effortless. The one thing that could have kept her off the podium would’ve been a lower degree of difficulty than some of her competitors, however, the judges rewarded her with a 90.70.

Despite the low-scoring first run, the veteran knew she had to just stay the course. “It’s just the best run counts, so there’s everything to win, nothing to lose. I just told myself, 'Let’s go'.”

Sun

The 20-year-old fell 20 seconds into her second run. She initially looked like she wouldn’t be able to finish the run but pulled it together to end on a high note for the moral victory. Her two falls left her with the 70.80 from her first run, nowhere good enough for the podium.

Deng

Her second run featured many of the same tricks as her first with a gold or silver medal already guaranteed. In her first Olympics she’d post the highest score from qualifications or finals with a 92.60.

Roberts

It’d all come down to her second run for the gold medal favorite and it didn’t last long. On the first trick she had a pedal slip that effectively dashed her hopes of gold. The silver medalist from Tokyo was clearly disappointed, she tossed her bike to the side and didn’t attempt to finish her run.