Jesse Asmus and Josh Jolly have become world champions on home soil after winning the Men Elite and Men Under 23 categories respectively at the 2026 UCI BMX Racing World Championships in Brisbane today.
Strong winds forced organisers to cancel today's racing, meaning the final standings were determined by yesterday's results.
Asmus, having won his 1/8 Final with the fastest time overall, was awarded the gold medal and rainbow jersey of the elite men's UCI World Champion.
Asmus was fastest of the Elite Men on Saturday.
The 23-year-old from the Gold Coast had shown sharp track knowledge and technical skill, as well as strategic foresight, to comfortably win both his First Round and 1/8 Final heats.
The Nerang BMX rider said, while he didn't win his maiden world title the way he'd envisaged it, it would still be a victory to savour.
"I feel like it's not the way we all wanted it to go; but it's still good to get it done. I'm feeling pretty grateful right now, and it's pretty unreal at the moment," Asmus said.
"I had an inkling yesterday that the weather wasn’t looking good, so I knew the plan was to lay down some good laps and go as fast as I could. It turns out that strategy played in my favour pretty well.
"I feel like I've been making really good strides in my riding lately and it [a world title] was going to come eventually. But to happen right now, especially in front of the home crowd, it doesn't feel real yet. I feel like it's still sinking in."
Likewise, Jolly was the quickest under-23 rider in yesterday's First Round. He won his heat with a scorching time of 33.681 seconds, nearly one full second faster than the runner-up, and faster than all but two elite men.
The Ballarat rider adds the under-23 world title to his trophy cabinet after winning the junior event in 2024.
"I feel like I was confident enough to have the same outcome whether we got to race-off today or not, so I’m stoked on the outcome," Jolly said.
"I was not overly happy with that lap, a few mistakes because it was a little windy yesterday. I know I’ve done a lot cleaner laps in training with Jesse, but it was still a fast lap and got the job done.
"We’ve been working together and training for so long and envisioning this happening. Having it come true for the both of us just means the world."
For the second year in a row, Saya Sakakibara had to settle for the silver medal behind Great Britain's Bethany Shriever.
“I wanted the gold,” the Olympic champion said. “I had my gold nails ready to go, but now that I have received the medal, I am accepting of the result.
“We all didn’t want this to happen. It was out of everyone’s control, but at the end of the day, it’s still second and it still goes in the history books as second.
“I’ll take being world number 2. It still stings a bit, but I am still proud of my performance on that one lap I got to do.”
The ARA Australian Cycling Team featured on both junior podiums, with Cam Gatt winning silver in the Men Junior event and Isla Basa clinching bronze in Women Junior.
🥇 Jesse Asmus (Elite Men)
🥇 Josh Jolly (U23 Men)
🥈 Saya Sakakibara (Elite Women)
🥈 Cameron Gatt (Junior Men)
🥉 Isla Basa (Junior Women)
Photos: SWpix.com