Cambridge females Lily Greenough and Olympian Leila Walker led the kiwis on the opening round of the UCI BMX Racing World Cup in Sarrians, France.
Both kiwi riders from the Cambridge BMX Club rode strongly to make their respective finals in the sweltering conditions over 30C deg in the south of France.
Walker, who has only recently returned to training after recovery from surgery on her foot from a training accident, enjoyed an encouraging start to her 2024 campaign.
She used her renowned racecraft to move through the field, which was to the fore on the technical Sarrians track.
Walker was fourth in the first round to move through directly to the quarterfinals. She made it through in the fourth and final sport to the semifinals where she produced a strong ride for third behind Paris Olympic Games bronze medallist Zoe Claessens (SUI) and former world champion Laura Smulders (NED).
The 20 year old found herself behind the leaders out of the gate in the final but again showed her considerable racecraft to push up to fifth, only 0.4s off the podium.
Greenough, 17, made an impressive start to her UCI BMX Racing World Cup career in the under-23 competition, proving one of the fastest riders down the first straight throughout the day overall.
She won the family bragging rights over older brother Jack competing in the men’s under-23 grade.
Greenough won her qualifying heat, and dominated in her first round of match racing. She won her quarterfinal, dominate from gate two, and was super-impressive with victory in her semifinal in a close battle with Marie Favrel (FRA) and Michelle Wissing (NED).
After strong gates throughout, Greenough unfortunately missed the snap from the gate in the final, finishing seventh with the two riders she beat in the semifinal claiming first and second.
New Zealand elite men, Paris Olympic semifinalist Rico Bearman and the experienced Michael Bias both made it through to the quarterfinals.
After safely qualifying for match racing, both had to work hard to grab the final qualifying spots in the first round but were sixth and seventh in the same quarterfinal heat.
In the men’s under-23 racing, Southland’s Nick Cowie and Cooper Richardson (North Harbour) went out in the Last Chance heats, while Jack Greenough (Cambridge) missed out in the first round of match racing after a clash with his Australian opponent on the opening turn.
Finn Cogan (Cambridge) was fourth to move into the second round where he came down in a battle on the opening corner and was eliminated.
The riders return for the second round at the same track tomorrow.
Results, Finals: Elite Men: Arthur Pilard (FRA) 31.105, 1; Izaac Kennedy (AUS) 31.564, 22; Sylvain Andre (FRA) 31.659, 3.
Elite women: Zoe Claessens (SUI) 34.156, 1; Saya Sakakibara (AUS) 35.084, 2; Molly Simpson (CAN) 35.182, 3. Also Leila Walker (NZL) 35.939, 5.
Under-23, Male: Jason Noordam (NED) 31.531, 1; Alexis Pieczanowsky (FRA) 31.932, 2; Jesse Asmus (AUS) 32.275, 3.
Women: Michelle Wissing (NED) 34.781, 1; Marie Favrel (FRA) 35.239, 2; Emily Hutt (GBR) 35.410, 3. Also: Lily Greenough (NZL) 36.883, 7.