Defending champion Logan Martin ready to unleash ‘new tricks’ in Paris

Logan Martin knows what it takes to win Olympic gold.

He did, after all, win the very first Olympic gold medal in BMX Freestyle at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago.

But as the sport continues to grow, Martin knows he will have to bring his a-game and rise to the occasion if he wants to defend his Olympic title.

“I’ve had to learn new tricks. I’ve kept them off social media and I’ve been doing them most sessions for the past year. So, I do have some tricks ready to go, and if it all goes to plan in Paris, my best finals run will have some new tricks,” the 30-year-old said.  

It hasn’t been all smooth sailing for the Gold Coast rider leading up to the Olympics. 

At the Olympic Qualifier Series in Budapest, Martin failed to qualify for the final after falling in both his runs.

He later revealed he had a foot injury which impacted his lead-in to the OQS. He said he had now recovered putting the Budapest result behind him with full focus on Paris.

“I just evaluate what happened, what went wrong and the most unfamiliar thing about Budapest was the lead up to the event. Even in China (at the OQS event), I had an injured foot. So I had to take a little bit of time off to focus on being ready to go in Paris and not riding injured in Paris. It obviously didn’t work out, but I was able to get home and get straight back into training. Leading into Paris now it’s been a normal lead-in and I feel good and I feel myself again.”

One of Martin’s biggest competitors will be Frenchman Anthony Jeanjean, who is in hot form coming into the Olympics winning both stages of the OQS.

But Martin says his only focus will be on his own performance in Paris.   

“I don’t think about who can do well, I just try and focus on my best performance. I know that if I can go out there and do my best run its going to be really hard to beat.”

The men's BMX Freestyle qualification kicks off at 11:11pm AEST, Tuesday July 30, and finals will take place on Wednesday July 31 at 10:44pm AEST.