Paris Olympics: 'One of the most stressful races there is' — the pressure of BMX racing's last-chance race

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MONTIGNY-LE-BRETONNEUX, France — Viewed from another angle, the most magnificent aspect of the Olympic Games — the way that the best of the best triumph by the narrowest of margins — is also its most cruel. To triumph by an eye blink or a millimeter means that someone else lost by that same tiny margin. The margin between a lifetime of pride and a lifetime of regret can be shorter than it takes you to read the words What if … ?

There are as many different ways of advancing through the ranks at the Olympics as there are sports. There are one-and-done sports (tennis), there’s pool play leading to knockout rounds (soccer), there are slow marches to the medal stands (golf) and there are heats upon heats (swimming, gymnastics, track & field). Over at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines BMX Stadium, there’s an extra wrinkle: the Last Chance Race.

The BMX Olympics race is divided into three eight-rider groups — 24 riders total — each of which runs three heats. The top 16 finishers — based on accumulated points through those three heats — advance to the semifinals. The eight slowest riders go to the Last Chance Race … where only the top four advance.

The Last Chance Race is exactly what it sounds like: a final chance to advance through to the next round of competition, a one-lap, 30-second opportunity for those who didn’t make it in via the regular heats to move one step closer to a medal. The Last Chance Race offers another strand of hope, but it also extends the agony.

“It’s probably one of the most stressful races there is,” Team USA’s Daleny Vaughn said after her heats, where she finished seventh overall.

BMX racing is one of those sports, like NASCAR racing, where you look at it and you think, Hey, I can ride a bike. I could probably do all right at that, couldn't I? No. No, you could not. Begin with the physical challenges. BMX riders start eight abreast on an eight-meter-high ramp and pound through a course of bumps, hills and sweeping banked turns, hitting speeds over 35 miles per hour. They stand through the entire 32-bump, three-turn course, and most riders finish in less than 40 seconds.

Here's a taste:

Then there’s the mental challenge. While BMX racing moves swiftly, alternating between men’s and women’s heats, there’s plenty of opportunity in between heat races to think about what could go right … and what could go wrong. That’s where the mental toughness, so important to every Olympic sport, comes into play.

“It’s always going to come down to who shows up in the moment, on the day,” said Team USA’s Alise Willoughby, who finished Thursday’s heats ranked third. “You have to be on to get it right. Things can go wrong very quickly.”

Vaughn noted that avoiding the last chance race carries both physical and mental benefits. “That was a race I did not want to be in,” he said. “Two things. I’m able to have one less lap on the legs. It takes away some stress [of] knowing I need to be top 4 in that one lap to go into [Friday].”

Thursday night’s Last Chance races were the most heated of the evening; at the final turn of the men’s race, five riders were in position for the four spots. Some riders collapsed in exhaustion, grief or exultation, and one — Colombia’s Carlos Alberto Ramirez — was wheeled off on a gurney after suffering an injury on a wreck.

The women’s side of the draw illustrated the random, often capricious nature of the sport. Marina Pajon, reigning silver medalist and two-time gold medalist in BMX racing, ended up in the Last Chance race after less-than-notable heat runs. She managed to win it by more than a full second, but clearly would have rather not needed that extra run.

“I’m just so happy,” she said with a smile afterward, “that I’m into [Friday].”

Asked about the last chance race, Australia’s Izaak Kennedy, who ended the heats ranked sixth and so advanced to the semifinals, summed up the feeling most riders want to have.

“I’m not in it,” he smiled wearily, “so I don’t have to worry about it.”