Dangerous Brisbane winds ruin BMX world title races

Justin Chadwick | July 19, 2026

Saya Sakakibara’s dream of snaring a maiden BMX women’s world title has been heartbreakingly thwarted by the Brisbane wind, but fellow Australian Jesse Asmus was left to thank his lucky stars after becoming a world champion.

Sakakibara won Olympic gold at the 2024 Paris Games and entered this week’s UCI BMX Racing World Championships in Brisbane as one of the favourites.

The 26-year-old cruised through qualifying on Saturday to snare a spot in Sunday’s final rounds.

But strong winds in Brisbane meant the action couldn’t get underway due to safety reasons, leaving organisers with no option but to call off the finals late in the day.

Under the event’s rules, the rider with the fastest qualifying time is crowned champion if the finals can’t be run.

It meant Sakakibara, who qualified second fastest with a time of 36.908, narrowly missed out on gold to Great Britain’s Bethany Schriever (36.585).

Laura Smulders, from the Netherlands, finished third.

Schriever, who won Olympic gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics but finished a disappointing eighth at the Paris Games, has now been crowned world champion four times – 2021, 2023, 2025 and 2026.

“I wanted the gold. I had my gold nails ready to go,” Sakakibara said. 

“But now that I have received the (silver) medal I am accepting of the result. 

“We all didn’t want this to happen. It was out of everyone’s control but at the end of the day it’s still second and it still goes in the history books as second, so I’ll take being world No.2.

“It still stings a bit but I am still proud of my performance on that one lap I got to do.”

The news was better for Asmus, who was crowned the men’s world champion after finishing first in qualifying.

Asmus won his maiden national crown just three months ago, and is now celebrating becoming a world beater. 

He posted a time of 33.386 seconds in qualifying to edge out Great Britain’s Ross Cullen (33.695) and France’s Mathis Ragot Richard (33.796) for the title.

“Honestly, it doesn’t feel real,” Asmus said. 

“It wasn’t the traditional way. I didn’t get the gold celebration going across the line in front of the home crowd, but someone was going to win. 

“I’m trying to realise that it’s a pretty special moment and soak it all in.

“I had an inkling yesterday that the weather wasn’t looking good, so I knew the plan was to lay down some good laps and go as fast as I could.

“It was a part of the strategy yesterday. It turns out that strategy played in my favour pretty well.”