Ramping up for Paris together

Alongside his own medal ambitions, Daniel Dhers is reveling in his role as Team China's BMX coach

A false landing ruined his first run, before the early-summer heat threw him off the pace in his second attempt. Daniel Dhers, however, was all smiles at the conclusion of BMX freestyle park finals on Saturday at Shanghai's Huangpu Riverside. Not for a sub-par 10th-place finish at the critical Olympic qualifier, which may prove costly for his own Paris 2024 prospects, but more for seeing three home riders sweep the women's podium as a coach of the Chinese BMX team.

"It's been a rollercoaster of emotions today," the legendary Venezuelan rider, known as the "Godfather of BMX", said after watching China's Sun Sibei, Sun Jiaqi and Deng Yawen finish one, two and three, respectively, in the women's final to a rousing reaction from the Shanghai crowd.

"It started with the girls and they absolutely destroyed the competition. Top three, it's crazy. I will use their results as my motivation to do better myself in Budapest. Hopefully, I can still make it to Paris," said Dhers, who started coaching Team China about a year ago.