Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

news

Shanaze Reade wins back BMX World Championship title

21-year-old sets sights on unique double gold at London 2012

Media attention at the weekend may have focused on Great Britain’s track and field stars and their impressive medal haul in the European Championships in Barcelona, but in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, cyclist Shanaze Reade – who herself started her sporting career in athletics – confirmed her return from injury by winning back the BMX World Championship on Saturday.

In doing so, Reade, who had crashed on the final bend in the final at the Olympics in Beijing two years ago after clipping the wheel of eventual winner, France’s Anne-Caroline Chausson, confirmed her status as one of the favourites to win the event at London 2012.

Reade saw off the challenge of reigning champion Sarah Walker of New Zealand and the USA’s Alise Post, who respectively finished in second and third place, to claim her third title in four years, setting a time of 38.819 seconds.

The 21-year-old from Crewe, who suffered a broken wrist and displaced pelvis in that crash in Beijing, said afterwards: "It's absolutely amazing – I'm emotional at the moment but the feeling is so good.” Quoted in the Daily Telegraph, she continued: “Missing last year was one of the hardest things, but every day that went past I was digging more and more, and it's paid off."

Besides the BMX event in London, Reade also plans to compete in the team sprint with Victoria Pendleton, an event in which the pair were world champions in 2007 and 2008, as she seeks to pull off a unique double, explaining, “I want to be the first British athlete to win two golds in two different disciplines."

 

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

Add new comment

2 comments

Avatar
antonio | 14 years ago
0 likes

Shanaze is the only one within touching distance of Vicki Pendleton, much as we would like to think we have other talent coming through, I hope she, like Hoy and Staff makes the total transition to the track from BMX.

Avatar
Simon E | 14 years ago
0 likes

Latest Comments