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Colombia's Mariana Pajon dominated the field in the women's BMX cycling final at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro on Friday. She retained her Olympic title to add to the world championship she also owns as the dominant female rider in the sport.
Meanwhile, Team USA's Connor Fields grabbed gold in the men's event, after Australian pair Sam Willoughby and Anthony Dean both disappointed, despite bossing their semi-final heats.
In fact, it was a triple disappointment for much fancied Australia, as Caroline Buchanan didn't even qualify for the women's final after crashing in the third run of the second heat.
Here are the medal winners for this event:
| Race | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Women's Final | Mariana Pajon (COL) | Alise Post (USA) | Stefany Hernandez (VEN) |
| Men's Final | Connor Fields (USA) | Jelle van Gorkom (NED) | Carlos Alberto Ramirez Yepes (COL) |
Here are the results from Friday's key races:
| Race | First | Second | Third |
| Women's Semifinal First Heat | Mariana Pajon (COL) 3 (1,1,1) | Alise Post (USA) 8 (3,2,3) | Stefany Hernandez (VEN) 11 (2,7,2) |
| Women's Semifinal Second Heat | Laura Smulders (NED) 4 (2,1,1) | Brooke Crain (USA) 7 (3,2,2) | Elke Vanhoof (BEL) 13 (4,6,3) |
| Men's Semifinal First Heat | Anthony Dean (AUS) 3 (1,1,1) | Jelle van Gorkom 11 (2,6,3) | Carlos Alberto Ramirez Yepes (COL) 11 (3,3,5) |
| Men's Semifinal Second Heat | Sam Willoughby (AUS) 3 (1,1,1) | Connor Fields (USA) 10 (2,2,6) | Niek Kimman (NED) 12 (4,6,2,) |
Due to the semifinal format, where scores are aggregated over three separate runs, riding was a little more cautious than usual. Yet that didn't stop Pajon from dominating the opening run of the women's semifinal first heat.
The Colombian rider produced a crucial strong start and made easy work of the first jump. Pajon crossed the line comfortably in front at the end of the first run.
However, she went to a photo finish in the second run of her semifinal, with Team USA's Alise Post right alongside her. Meanwhile, a big crash further back sent Venezuela's Stefany Hernandez tumbling and forced her to carry her bike over the line.
Hernandez rallied to record another second-place finish in the third run. It was enough to cancel out the nightmare of the second run and see her through.
Pajon crossed the finishing line with room to spare ahead of the chasing pack in her third run. UCI BMX Supercross confirmed the qualifiers from the first heat:
Buchanan set the pace for Australia in the first run of the women's semifinal second heat. She resisted challenges from Germany's Nadja Pries before riding home to secure first place in the initial run.
Her Olympic team described Buchanan's skilled ride:
A fourth-place finish in the next run harmed Buchanan, though, as the Netherlands' Laura Smulders and Team USA's Brooke Crain provided strong competition. Things got worse for Buchanan when she crashed early in the third run, a race controlled by Smulders, who led the qualifiers:
With a one-and-done format for the final, nobody could keep pace with Pajon. She powered home in no time at all after securing the inside track following yet another strong start.
There was a crash early, as France's Manon Valentino went over amid a packed collision. Her downfall contrasted with that of Post, who secured silver ahead of a game Hernandez, who had recovered well to take bronze.
There was some good news for Australia when Dean and Willoughby topped the first and second heats, respectively, after one run in the men's semifinals. There was a rough crash for Venezuela's Jefferson Milano, though. He eventually made it over the line, but the misfortune dented his hopes of qualifying for the final.
It was Willoughby and Fields who again finished one and two, respectively, in the second run of the second heat. But the pair rode faster to guarantee qualification for the final.
That race also featured a nasty crash involving New Zealand's Trent Jones. Thankfully, the rider was OK after taking an ominous-looking tumble.
It was Dutchman Niek Kimmann who took advantage of the best-of-three rule to sneak in after a strong finish in the third run:
A poor start hamstrung Willoughby in the men's final. His initial struggles left Team USA pair Fields and Nicholas Long battling for the top spot.
A powerful surge from Fields gave him the Olympic title, with Dutchman Jelle van Gorkom also making a late dash. Willoughby tried to apply some pressure, but it was too late.
As for Long, he was just beaten to the third by Carlos Alberto Ramirez Yepes, who claimed bronze for Colombia. But there was bigger disappointment for the Australians, as Willoughby finished sixth and Dean didn't finish at all.
