Argentina’s Jose Augusto Torres surprised everyone with a 94.82 run to steal gold in men’s BMX freestyle. Great Britain’s Keiran Reilly was the most consistent rider all day with two runs of 93.70 and 93.91, but his second run helped him edge out France’s Anthony Jeanjean by 0.15 for silver.
The 2023 X Games winner, Torres, started off his first run with big air and executed combo after combo with 360s and bars spins. A nice transfer to the big wall and a tailwhip barspin backflip highlighted his run. It was a dream run for the Argentinean and the judges rewarded with a score of 94.82. No one was able to top the score for the rest of the competition. His gold medal is Argentina’s first Olympic medal in any BMX discipline, and it is Argentina’s first men’s individual medal in any sport since the 2012 Games.
Torres was left speechless after the competition, "So much feeling, it's hard to explain. I am trying to endure the moment and not cry because I am a person who doesn't like to show his feelings too much" before adding, "It means everything, my life — all the work from my life — four years working with the team."
Anthony Jeanjean’s day couldn’t have started worse. In front a loud crowd, the Frenchman crashed on his first trick and was unable to finish the ride. He recovered for his second run and landed a huge trick off the bat much to the delight of the crowd. He flew through his run and ended it with an exclamation point with a double back flip to send the crowd into pandemonium. The judges took their time to look at his run, and rewarded Jeanjean with a 93.76.
Reilly showed out in both his runs. His first run featured combo after combo and punctuated it with a huge finish over the spine for a 93.70. He upped that number on his second run, which featured a triple bar spin and a 720 double tail whip among other tricks, for a score of 93.91.
After the runs, Reilly complimented his competitors, "that was the highest level of competition in a final that I've ever seen. Everyone really wanted it and it showed."
American Justin Dowell finished in eighth after winning the 2024 X Games. He waived off a big trick in his second run after a clean first run and finished with a high score of 88.35 from his first run. Teammate Marcus Christopher fell in his first run when he attempted a downside 360. His second run was cleaner with a 360 quad tail whip but only good enough for a score of 93.11, which left him just off the podium in fourth.
Defending gold medalist Logan Martin looked to be on track for a medal, but crashed on an easy trick near the end. It’s a shame that he fell because his run featured a beautiful bike flip, which no one else attempted and would have earned him big points. He also fell on his second run.