Tokyo (AFP)

"Looking ahead to 2024 ..." The French BMX race riders, despite four riders in the final Friday in Tokyo, did not bring back any medals and have no other way out than to already think about the Paris Games to recover a motivation.

Dutchman Niek Kimman took gold, ahead of Briton Kye Whyte and Colombian Carlos Alberto Ramirez.

After the zero point on the road, acceptable in view of the competition, and the enormous disappointment of mountain biking, French cycling is therefore still without any medals in Japan.

Only BMX freestyle, Sunday, and the track, in the second week, to try to save the honor.

Joris Daudet and Sylvain André, former world champions, Romain Mahieu, who discovered the Games like Axelle Étienne in the ladies' category, had nevertheless all managed to qualify for the finals on Friday at the superb urban sports park in Tokyo.

With three of the eight riders competing at the start for the men, the chances of medals were real.

And the 45-minute delay in the program, due to a huge downpour in the morning, hadn't disturbed anyone.

While André (4th) and Mahieu (6th) were immediately trapped, Daudet approached the final in third position.

"The medal was the key and I fell in the last corner", he lamented, still dumbfounded: "I did not feel anything coming, I slipped suddenly, it's difficult to explain ".

In London-2012 and Rio-2016, he stopped in the semi and quarterfinals, also a victim of falls.

- "You have to manage the pressure" -

His teammates could not even fight for the podium: "Disappointed, it's clear," whispered Mahieu, "after the half where I felt pretty good, we start to think that a medal is possible. Finishing sixth , I surely expected better ... "

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"But there is a positive, says the 26-year-old driver, this is my first Olympiad, I am in the final. I learned a lot this week and we will already look at 2024".

The experience of Tokyo, he hopes, will be useful to him in Paris: "The Games are a rather different race, there is a pressure that there is not on other races, there is you have to manage it ", he says, when asked what lessons he will draw:" It's just this Olympic atmosphere with which you have to be a little familiar, and here I am happy with what I did and I can't wait to be in three years.

Daudet is finding it more difficult to plan for the next Games.

"I'm 30, I can't say yet whether or not I'll be there," he said cautiously.

Axelle Étienne, trapped from the first corner, finished seventh in the ladies final.

"I wanted to do everything to get third place, I took risks, it didn't pay off but I don't regret anything," she said.

The double Olympic champion (London-2012, Rio-2016) Colombian Mariana Pajon took this time only the silver, beaten by the Briton Bethany Shriever.

© 2021 AFP