Olympics Cycling BMX results: Seeding runs

The 2016 Rio Olympics BMX competition began on Wednesday, as both men and women competed in their seeding runs.

The 2016 Rio Olympics cycling competition began it’s BMX event on Wednesday, as both the men and women raced in their seeding runs. The BMX competition is the newest portion of the cycling events at the Olympics, having made its debut in 2008.

The women took to the track first on Wednesday, and to no-one’s surprise, Mariana Pajon had the fastest time. Pajon won the gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics, and is the odds-on favorite to win it again in Rio. Pajon’s time of 34.50s was 0.25s better than the next best cyclist.

The women will wait until Friday to get back to the action, as the men have a quarterfinal run on Thursday. Due to the fact that there is only 16 women in the event, all cyclists qualify for the semifinals, and the seeding run is used to decide land position. After the semis, the final 8 women will battle it out for the medals.

Over on the men’s side, Latvia’s Maris Strombergs had owned this event, winning both gold medals since it became an Olympic sport. Strombergs finished with the seventh-best time during the seeding run, clocking a 34.95s. France’s Joris Duadet had the fastest time during the seeding, posting a time of 34.61s.

Australia’s Sam Wiloughby, who won the silver medal at the 2012 London Olympics, finished with the third-best time in the seeding run. Columbia’s Carlos Oquendo, the bronze winner from London, had the 14th best time. Americans Connor Fields and Corben Sharrah ran the fourth and fifth best race, respectively.

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The men’s field will be cut from 32 to 16 on Thursday, as they run a quarterfinal race. On Friday, both the men and women will have their semifinal runs, slicing the field in half, and will end the day with the finals.