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Sarah Walker is set on improving on her 4th place finish in Beijing - Source: Photosport
Latvia's Edzus Treimanis bleeds - Source: Reuters
Kiwi BMX cyclist Sarah Walker has had a good start to her Olympic campaign, posting the second fastest time in today's seeding run at the Olympic Park.
Walker completed the course in 38.644 to lock up the second seed
for Friday's semi-finals, with only Australia's world time trial
champion Caroline Buchanan going faster by 0.2 seconds.
It gives her a slightly easier path to the Friday's three-run
semi-finals, in which she needs to finish in the top four to
qualify for the final later that day.
It was an impressive ride given that she hasn't ridden much since a
shoulder injury sustained in a crash at a world cup event in
April.
"I just focused on getting a smooth lap and getting a strong start.
I just focused on doing what I could and put down a good lap," the
24-year-old rider said.
"I'm happy because Shanaze (British rider Shanaze Reade) was before
me and I beat her by a lot."
The track included a tunnel which Walker said was quite
bizarre.
"You go into it and you're going through the tunnel and you can't
see out the other side. It's an easy jump but there's a lot of
mental process that goes into it."
Walker said she wasn't concerned as to whether the quick lap laid
down a psychological mark to her opponents, but it was good for
her.
"I was putting the pressure on as if it was the final and I needed
to perform the best lap that I could, and I think that I did
that."
Walker finished fourth in Beijing, was world champion in 2009 and
was runner-up in 2010 and 2011.
In the men's competition New Zealand number one Marc Willers had a smooth enough ride to finish the course in 10th place with a time of 38.687 seconds.
The younger Kiwi, Kurt Pickard, was 16th fastest in the field of 32 with a time of 39.057 seconds.
Raymon van der Biezen of the Netherlands set the pace with 37.779 seconds.
World Champion Maris Stromberg of Latvia was one place behind Willers in 11th place but the best crash went to his compatriot Edzus
Treimanis who bailed on a jump and landed hard on his elbow. He failed to complete the course.
The men's quarter-finals kick off at 2am (NZT) tomorrow.