Tokyo 2020 - Kye Whyte wins silver medal for Great Britain after defending BMX champion crashes out in semi-final

ByHarry Latham Coyle

Updated 30/07/2021 at 07:23 GMT

Fields was unable to line up for the final after being taken away on a stretcher after crashing heavily in the final heat of his semi-final. Whyte's success preceded teammate Bethany Shriever's, who went one better and took gold in the women's race. You want it? We have it. Stream every Olympic event live on discovery+

Kye Whyte secured a silver medal for Great Britain in the BMX at Ariake Urban Sports Park.

Whyte finished second behind Niek Kimmann of the Netherlands after a dramatic day of racing at Tokyo 2020.

After the start of the day's racing was delayed due to rain, defending champion Connor Fields of the USA crashed out in his final heat of the semi-finals.

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There was a crash in the final, too, with Joris Daudet of France tumbling while in third position on the track and failing to finish.

By then, though, Whyte and Kimmann had broken away from the rest of the field and prepared to duel down the final straight.

'I had an absolute blinder' - Whyte on grabbing BMX silver

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Kimmann held a narrow advantage entering it and though Whyte rode the lumps and bumps the better in the run to the finish, Kimmann clung on to win gold in a time of 39.053 seconds.

The 21-year-old British rider finished in 39.167 seconds.

Whyte's medal started a superb 15 minutes or so at Ariake Urban Sports Park as teammate Bethany Shriever topped Whyte by winning gold in the women's race by the barest of margins.

Whyte and Shriever celebrated together draped in the British flag, before Whyte held Shriever aloft in his arms in triumph having secured Great Britain's first ever BMX racing Olympic medals.

Behind Whyte, Carlos Ramirez of Colombia (40.572 seconds) took his second consecutive bronze medal at the Olympics.

Whyte's medal was Team GB's 22nd of Tokyo 2020, with the 23rd to follow soon after.

That pushes Britain's tally beyond that of Australia, who retain their place in fifth on the medal table due to the superior number of gold medals won - nine to GB's six.

Tom Pidcock won Britain's first cycling medal of the Olympics on his mountain bike on "Magic Monday".

‘Life changing!’ – Shriever and Whyte celebrate the enormity of their success in BMX

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