RIYADH (Reuters) -French BMX rider Anthony Jeanjean won his first world title with a glittering display in the freestyle park final at the UCI Urban Cycling World Championships on Saturday.
The 27-year-old fell in his first run but nailed his second attempt, 60 seconds full of free-flowing tricks, in the arena in Riyadh’s Boulevard City district.
Cramming in a triple tail whip, a double flair and his trademark double back flip, Jeanjean impressed the judges enough for a daunting score of 94.4 that no other rider could match.
American Marcus Christopher took the silver medal with a score of 94.02, while former Olympic champion Logan Martin of Australia earned 91.68 to take the bronze.
“The level is so crazy, it’s my first time as world champion so I’m so happy,” Jeanjean, who was third at his home Olympics in Paris last year, said. “Was so happy with my second run.”
American great Hannah Roberts was unable to win a sixth successive freestyle park gold in the women’s event as Chinese swept the podium with Sun Sibei in gold with 95.86.
Sun Jiaqi was second with Fan Xiaotong third. China’s reigning Olympic champion Deng Yawen was not competing.
Roberts crashed in her first run and could only finish 10th.
It was the first time a UCI world championships had been held in Saudi Arabia.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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