The wind decided it. On the exposed Brisbane track, sustained gusts swept across the start gate, and organisers ruled that the elite women's final could not safely be run. When the racing was called off, the rainbow jersey passed to the rider who had set the fastest time in the preceding round. That rider was Beth Shriever. With it, she became the first BMX racer to win four elite world titles.
It was not the finish she had rehearsed. Strong winds first delayed the programme, then forced the UCI to abandon the event on safety grounds. Results were drawn from the previous day's round, and there Shriever had been quickest of all in the women's field. The margin that mattered had already been laid down, under her own wheels, before the storm closed the meeting. In the men's event her compatriot Ross Cullen took silver on the second-fastest lap, behind Australia's Jesse Asmus.
"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," Shriever told reporters afterwards.
A title without a final
BMX is a sport of the gate drop, of eight riders and one corner. To be crowned without that last collision of bodies is strange for any champion. Yet the format rewarded the rider who had been fastest when the clock was running, and Shriever had answered that test the day before. The fortieth edition of the championships, staged over 18 and 19 July, will be remembered for the weather as much as the winner. The record it produced is hers regardless.
