Britain’s Kieran Reilly crowned world BMX freestyle champion, Ethan Vernon wins elimination race despite crash

There were two golds for Great Britain at the UCI World Championships on Monday as Kieran Reilly won the men’s elite BMX freestyle with “a run I will remember forever” and Ethan Vernon recovered from a crash to claim victory in the men’s elimination race.

The 22-year-old Reilly went into the event on home soil in Glasgow as the reigning European champion and took the rainbow jersey before declaring his target of Olympic gold in Paris next year.

“It is a run I will remember forever,” Reilly told the BBC.

“I have this championship, but Olympic gold is always going to be the goal. I look forward to Paris.”

Reilly faced an agonising wait for his triumph to be confirmed as rain delayed the action while he was top of the leaderboard.

To make matters worse, Olympic champion Logan Martin and defending world champion Rimu Nakamura were yet to have their final run.

But Reilly’s second run of 95.80 proved enough to hold off Australia’s Martin, who finished second with 95.30, while Nakamura of Japan only mustered enough for a fourth-place finish with 91.87.

Nick Bruce of the United States took bronze with 93.90, while Britain’s Jude Jones was sixth with 90.10, behind Croatian Marin Rantes on 90.64.

“It has been a stressful half hour and it hasn’t hit me yet,” Reilly added.

“I was trying to impress, and I got to a point when it was guaranteed a medal, but the difference to get a medal and the jersey is huge.

“It feels like a dream come true; I cannot believe it. For me it’s rare you come off a course and you feel 100% proud, it means a lot when you finish.”

Vernon soon followed suit by taking the rainbow jersey in the men’s elimination race in the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome.

The 22-year-old finished ahead of Canada’s Dylan Bibic and Elia Viviani of Italy despite crashing heavily with Matthijs Buchli to neutralise the race early on.

He recovered to stay in contention, before storming past Bibic in the first corner of the final lap and powering clear to create such a large gap that he had time to celebrate with the crowd before crossing the line.

“I can’t believe it. When I crashed I didn’t really know the rules, so I just got back on and sprinted back on,” Vernon said.

“I didn’t want to lose and I had good legs so it could not end it there.

“This week has been a bit depressing for us, the TP didn’t go so well and we put everything into that so it was a big setback. So to win in a bunch race that wasn’t the main target is quite special.”

Golds for Reilly and Vernon take Britain’s overall tally to 19.

The British team has picked up 32 medals in total so far and Olympic champion Charlotte Worthington will bid for gold in the women’s BMX freestyle later on Monday.