By Martyn Herman
GLASGOW (Reuters) -Britain’s Kieran Reilly flipped and whipped his way to a rainbow jersey with a stunning second run in the final of the world championships BMX freestyle competition on Monday.
The 22-year-old Reilly, whose trailblazing two-wheeled stunts have earned him a huge online following, pulled every trick out of the bag to nail his second run to score 95.80.
With several of the sport’s biggest names still to complete their final two 60-second runs, Gateshead’s Reilly then had an anxious wait to see whether or not the world title was his.
A rain shower prolonged the agony as organisers dried the track, with just Australia’s Olympic champion Logan Martin and 2022 world champion Rimu Nakamura still to ride their second attempts around the circuit.
Nakumura’s first run had left the Japanese rider way down the standings and, with only the best of the two counting, he still had an opportunity to jump into the medals but he could only manage 91.87 to lift him into fourth place.
The 29-year-old Martin was already assured of a bronze and produced a sensational second ride but was unable to dislodge Reilly from the top of the leaderboard, settling for silver.
Nick Bruce of the United States was third.
Reilly’s second ride left the fans at Glasgow Green dizzy as he served up a feat including a triple whip and front flip before ending with a double flair (two complete back flips with a 180 twist) and casually tossing his bike to the ground.
“This is just next level,” Reilly said after being embraced buy his team mates. “It was a stressful half an hour waiting to find out where I was sat. It’s just amazing.
“It’s rare you come off a course 100% proud but that’s a run that I will remember forever. I left it all on the course.”
Britain’s reigning Olympic champion Charlotte Worthington was in action in the women’s competition later.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Ken Ferris)
