British BMX rider Kieran Reilly qualified for his maiden Olympics but defending champion Charlotte Worthington faces an anxious wait after missing out at the Olympic Qualifier Series in Budapest.
Reilly, the men’s freestyle park world champion, was third in the first leg of the OQS in Shanghai last month and another third-place finish on Sunday was enough for the 22-year-old to clinch second overall.
“It’s pretty surreal,” he told BBC Sport. “The last half hour I’ve been laughing, because if I didn’t laugh, I think I’d cry [through joy].”
Worthington placed 12th in Shanghai and a 10th-place finish in Budapest was not enough to book her spot – but she can still qualify.
The 27-year-old said she feels “in limbo” as there are another five quota places that will be allocated based on results from the 2022 Urban Cycling World Championships or 2023 World Cycling Championships, where Worthington came fifth and seventh, respectively.
But priority is given to National Olympic Committees from a continent not yet qualified, and if the British Olympic Association (BOA) is awarded a spot, they must decide who to take out of Worthington and Sasha Pardoe, or Jude Jones and Dylan Hessey on the men’s team.
Elsewhere in Budapest on Saturday, skateboarder Sky Brown, who became GB’s youngest Olympic medallist in 2021 when she won bronze in Tokyo at just 13, reached the women’s park final.
Brown, who turns 16 next month, failed in her bid to qualify for the Olympic surfing event. She is currently ranked 11th in the skateboarding global rankings with the top 20 set to qualify for Paris.
Sport climber Erin McNeice, 19, will compete in the women’s boulder and lead final on Sunday, and is well placed to qualify having finished third in Shanghai.
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