American Hannah Roberts, Olympic runner-up at the Tokyo 2020 Games, won her fifth BMX Freestyle world champion title ahead of five riders from the People’s Republic of China, trained by Venezuelan Daniel Dhers.
Hannah Roberts, 21, got emotional after winning her fourth consecutive universal title in a row. She achieved an impressive score of 91.04 points competing against five top Chinese cyclists. None of them could match that note achieved in the first round by the northerner.
The winner captured her first world championship in 2017 in Chengdu, China. In 2018, she achieved a bronze medal in Chengdu. After that, she continued to showcase her talent by winning back-to-back gold medals in 2019, 2021, and 2022.
Behind her was China’s Sun Sibei with a score of 89.10 and her bronze medalist was her compatriot Zhou Huimin with 87.90. Latin America did not get on the podium, but it once again demonstrated that it is present in the international elite: the Colombian Queen Villegas finished in eighth position; while the Olympic and Pan-American champion Macarena Pérez (Chile), although she was finally unable to play the decisive round, had passed the sixth best score in the qualifying phase.
“I am super grateful. I’m still emotional. I mean, the China team, they’re getting stronger. They have some of the best riders in the world and they are very motivated to keep going,” Roberts shared at the end of the meet.
For its part, in the men’s category, the gold went to the British Kieran Reilly. The best Latin American was the Argentine José Torres Gil, who finished in 9th position, followed by the Brazilian Gustavo Batista de Oliveira (10th). Venezuelan and current Olympic runner-up Daniel Dhers (14th) and Mexican Kevin Peraza (22nd) completed the Latino presence in the BMX Freestyle final.