Buchanan wins World Championship
29 July 2013
CYCLING - BMX: Australia's Caroline
Buchanan has won gold at the UCI BMX world championships in Auckland to put the
demons of her London Olympics campaign behind her. And Lauren Reynolds won silver.
Buchanan clocked a time of 25.506sec in a dramatic final at Vector Arena to
beat home compatriot Lauren Reynolds by 1.296sec while Frenchwoman Manon
Valentino bagged bronze.
For the victorious 22-year-old Canberran, it was some redemption for a
below-par Olympics campaign last year.
She entered the event as the world No.1-ranked women's BMX rider but was in
tears when she finished fifth.
On Sunday, she started in the box next to Olympic champion
Mariana Pajon and cut her off in the first straight to take the Colombian out
of contention.
"It's the one that I wanted since I was eight years old," said
Buchanan.
"I wasn't 100 per cent over what happened at the Olympic
Games until now.
"I had first lane choice at London.
"I took lane three and blew it. I made sure I didn't make the same mistake
again and went for lane one this time around."
"When it comes to finals you've got to release the mongrel and get
aggressive.
In the men's event, Englishman Liam Phillips made the most of his
opportunities after many of the heavy hitters had eliminated one another in a
quarter-final crash-fest.
In the final, he led from start to finish in a time of 23.280sec to claim gold
by only 0.212sec ahead of New Zealand's Marc Willers.
German Luis Brethauer took bronze.
Of the Australians, Joshua Callan was fifth in the final but Sam Willoughby
failed to qualify for the decider after running into a rival rider in the
lead-up races.
AAP
