Tokyo (AFP)

Three out of three for men and 1 in 2 for women: Joris Daudet, Sylvain André and Roman Mahieu, as well as Axelle Etienne, qualified Thursday for the BMX semi-finals of the Olympic Games, scheduled for Friday at the urban park of the Ariake Sports, Tokyo.

Manon Valentino was the only representative of the France team eliminated in the quarter-finals.

Under the blazing sun, and in the absence of an audience (replaced by a mosaic of images of fans online on the giant screen), André and Daudet both won the three races of their series with flying colors.

Romain Mahieu was less sovereign but also passed this first day without a hitch.

"I had three good races, I'm happy, everything is going well," said double world champion Joris Daudet, very relaxed after qualifying.

"I don't think I'm really in the favorites, there are a lot of drivers who are strong," added the 30-year-old driver, who is only missing an Olympic medal to complete a huge track record.

In the ladies' category, Axelle Etienne broke the obstacle by finishing third in her series three times.

"I'm super happy, it's already a first validated stage. Tomorrow is another day, there it will be full recovery and stay in my concentration", released on the fly after her race the native of Bondy, who discovered the Games at 23.

BMX now dreams of bringing its first medal to the French cycling sport in Tokyo, still empty-handed after the road and mountain biking events and before the track.

In each category (men and women) the 24 competitors were divided into four series of six drivers, who competed in three races.

The four best placed in each series (points classification) at the end of the three races have qualified for the semi-finals.

The format remains the same for the semi-finals.

Only the finals are contested in a single race.

The main rivals of the French for the medals will be the American Connor Fields, reigning Olympic champion, who also qualified easily, the Dutch Niek Kimman and Twan van Gendt, who were in the same series and achieved three double, and the Swiss David Graf, also impressive.

Among the ladies, the Colombian world star of BMX, the double Olympic champion in London-2012 and Rio-2016 Mariana Pajon, also flew over her quarter-final (three victories) and is aiming more than ever for a third consecutive gold medal, an unprecedented feat since BMX entered the Olympic program in 2008.

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