Britain’s Beth Shriever has become the first BMX racer to win four elite world titles as extreme weather curtailed the UCI BMX Racing World Championships in Brisbane.
After persistent strong winds delayed the start of the race in the Australian city, the UCI was forced to abandon the event and take results from the first round, held the previous day.
Shriever, 27, set the fastest lap time in the women’s event, which meant she was declared the champion for an unprecedented fourth time.
In the men’s event, fellow Briton Ross Cullen won silver after setting the second-fastest lap, behind Australia’s Jesse Asmus.
Shriever’s victory adds to her world titles in 2021, 2023 and 2025, as well her Olympic gold at Tokyo 2020.
“I’ve dreamed about doing this, but obviously not in this way. I know it’s a crazy, crazy day and I think all of us feel like this is a bit of a dream right now,” said Shriever.
“But, I mean, I laid down a solid lap yesterday, so everything happens for a reason. I couldn’t believe how quick yesterday was so, yeah, we’ll take it.
“I’m still happy, obviously we wanted to do it properly today but we can’t control the weather and it was too dangerous out there today.”
According to UCI regulations, if a BMX Racing World Championships is cancelled, “the last completed round will be declared the final results”.
The decision to abandon the race was taken with the support of the UCI Athletes’ Commission representative on site, the National Federation Team Managers, and the Local Organising Committee.
In the women’s junior event, Freia Challis pipped fellow Briton Elsa Rendall Todd to win gold.