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Canadian BMXer Tory Nyhaug earns spot in Olympic semifinals

Canada's Tory Nyhaug advanced to the semifinals after avoiding a crash-filled competition in men's BMX cycling action Thursday at the Rio Olympic Games.

24-year-old racer punches ticket to semifinal Friday at 12:38 p.m. ET

Jonathan Rumley · CBC Sports ·
Canada's Tory Nihaug, second from right, will compete in the men's BMX semifinals at Rio 2016. (Lars Baron/Getty Images)

By Jonathan Rumley, CBC Sports

Canada's Tory Nyhaug advanced to the semifinals after avoiding a crash-filled competition in men's BMX cycling action Thursday at the Rio Olympic Games.

"I definitely really like this course," Nyhaug said. "I'm just doing the best I can, and I had a ton of fun today."

The 24-year-old racer from Coquitlam, B.C., finished on top of his heat in his first two runs and came second in his final race to move on. A total of 16 competitors are expected to race in the next phase of the competition. 

"To go 1-1-2 is pretty much as good as it could go on the first day, so I'm definitely stoked and ready to go for tomorrow," Nyhaug added.

The 2015 Pan American Games gold medallist will compete in one of three semifinals slated to begin Friday at 12:38 p.m. ET (watch live on cbc.ca/olympics and the CBC Rio 2016 app).

It was a hectic day for riders on the Olympic BMX Centre course in Rio de Janeiro. Competitors had to deal with several dangerous collisions and were fortunate to complete the run with their bicycle in one piece. In fact, one racer from the Netherlands crashed so hard that his front wheel was knocked off as he made contact with the ground. 

As for Nyhaug, he was travelling through a bumpy portion of the Brazilian course when a rider lost control behind him and wiped out another competitor during his first run.

"I didn't get touched in the crash on the first run, but I heard it behind me," the Canadian admitted.

In a stunning result, reigning world champion Joris Daudet of France and the Netherlands' Niek Kimmann both went down Thursday in what appeared to be separate wrecks near the same spot going into a hill just before the second turn. 

It was the second of three heats for both riders. Daudet did not finish and was eliminated. Kimmann, who got up and walked to the finish line carrying his bike, was able to qualify for the next round. 
Sam Willoughby of Australia had the best performance of the day, coming in first in all three of his runs.

With files from The Associated Press

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