Can this foreign coach of the China BMX Racing Team be a winner-take-all? Can his female players take the top three spots and advance to the men's final?
On May 17, the competition for the second match day of the 2024 Olympic Qualification Series·Shanghai Station began. The three young players of the Chinese team, Sun Sibei, Sun Jiaqi, and Deng Yawen, took the top three seats in the preliminaries. The Huangpu Riverside arena repeatedly broke out with enthusiasm. applause.
What’s even more amazing is that as the high-level foreign coach of these three young Chinese female players, the 39-year-old legendary superstar Daniel Dels also appeared in the competition himself, and finally advanced to the finals with an accurate ranking of 12th.
In the freestyle BMX competition at the Shanghai Station, the biggest highlight should be the results and performance of Chinese players in the women's event. Last year in the Bazhong Station of the World Cup, 18-year-old Deng Yawen defeated world champion Hannah Roberts and Tokyo Olympic Games champion Charlotte Worthington of Great Britain to win the championship. Facing Roberts and Worthington again this time, whether Deng Yawen can continue his winning streak deserves attention.
On May 17, Chinese player Deng Yawen ranked third in the competition and advanced to the finals.
On the same day, in the preliminaries of the Shanghai Station Freestyle BMX Women's Park Competition of the Paris Olympic Qualifying Series held in Shanghai, Chinese players Sun Sibei, Sun Jiaqi and Deng Yawen ranked in the top three.
In the preliminaries on the 17th, the Chinese women's team really made a whirlwind, with three powerful female players appearing one after another. Sun Jiaqi, who was the first to appear, was the World Cup champion. However, she has been absent from many events due to injuries recently, causing her world ranking to slip. She was in the second group of the preliminaries and showed amazing skills as soon as she came on the stage, instantly raising the ceiling of this game. The first score of 85.00 instantly opened up a huge gap with all the previous players. After Sun Jiaqi scored 85.60 points in her second skate, her average score was 87.40 points, leading most of the preliminaries.
On May 17, 2024, the second competition day of the Olympic Qualification Series·Shanghai will be held. This is Chinese player Sun Jiaqi in the preliminaries of the women's freestyle BMX park competition. She ranked second and advanced to the finals.
In the final stage of the preliminaries, Sun Jiaqi was overtaken by teammate Sun Sibei. Sun Sibei, the runner-up of the World Championships, after scoring 85.00 points for the first time, kept up her efforts for the second time, scoring the highest score of 89.80, and finally secured the first place in the preliminaries with an average score of 87.40 points. Another female driver of the Chinese team, Deng Yawen, is also a World Cup champion. She scored 85.33 points and 85.48 points respectively with two highly enjoyable and difficult moves, ranking third with an average score of 85.40 points.
On May 17, Chinese player Sun Sibei ranked first in the competition and advanced to the finals.
On the same day, in the preliminaries of the Shanghai Station Freestyle BMX Women's Park Competition of the Paris Olympic Qualifying Series held in Shanghai, Chinese players Sun Sibei, Sun Jiaqi and Deng Yawen ranked in the top three.
Sun Jiaqi said in an interview after the game: "My goal today is to implement my training plan and advance to the finals. This result is what I expected." Talking about the impression left on her by the first Olympic Qualification Series At that time, Sun Jiaqi said: "Before, it was a single event. The difference in this event is that four events are put together, and the atmosphere of the competition is very good."
In the men's BMX competition of this event, Venezuelan Daniel Dels, known as the "Messi" in the freestyle BMX world, is now nearly 40 years old. He is not only a foreign teacher of the Chinese team, but also a member of the team. Can this veteran, who has provided experience and help to many elite athletes, be in excellent competitive shape for his "last dance" in the Olympics?
On May 17, Venezuelan player Daniel Dels was interviewed after the game. In the end, he ranked 12th and advanced to the finals.
On the same day, the preliminaries of the men's freestyle BMX park race at the Shanghai Station of the Paris Olympic Qualification Series were held.
In the men's group preliminaries held in the afternoon, a total of 24 players participated, and Chinese player Haiyang was the first to appear in the first group. After scoring 60.40 points for the first time, he made a foot contact error for the second time and scored 44.69 points. Finally, he ranked 20th with an average score of 52.54 points and missed the chance to advance to the finals. The Chinese team’s foreign coach and men’s freestyle BMX legend Daniel Dels appeared in the third group. The 39-year-old Tokyo Olympics silver medalist withstood the pressure in the competition with many young players who regarded him as their idol, and finally won With an average score of 80.93, he ranked 12th and advanced to the finals.
Freestyle BMX legend Daniel Dells serves as the foreign coach of the Chinese team.
Dels said about his performance after the game: "Today I tried my best to complete the two rounds and try to be as consistent as possible in the two games. But today I made a lot of mistakes. You know, when you know the Olympics are coming "As the foreign coach of the Chinese team, Dels also focused on the performance of the Chinese women's team players as a coach. He said: "The performance of the women's team was great today. We took the top three. I'm very happy. We had a meeting last night and I wanted to tell them the plan and tactics for today. I know you won't be ranked 10-12, but even that ranking doesn't matter. , I hope to help them implement our plan and believe in the process. I think we have done it, and now we have to go to the finals without any reservations.”
Freestyle BMX legend Daniel Dells analyzes the technical moves of the Chinese team riders.
At the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, when Daniel Deers won the silver medal in the men's freestyle BMX park race, he picked up his phone, opened social media, and clicked the live button - "I am the oldest here Driver!” At that time, the 36-year-old Venezuelan player showed his classic grin as the “expression king” and said to all the fans excitedly, “I am finally on the podium!”
Three years later, 39-year-old Daniel Deers is still fighting for his Olympic dream. In theory, he still retains the possibility of entering the Paris Olympics. On May 18, the Olympic Qualification Series Shanghai Freestyle BMX finals will be held. The women's finals will start at 10:00, and the men's finals will be held at 12:45. Whether Daniel Dells can continue his legend is worth watching.
Even so, the three members of the Chinese women's team he coached collectively advanced to retain the hope of winning the championship, and they still had enough energy to compete in the finals. This legendary Venezuelan player really understood the "winner takes all" game.
In order to catch up with the level of top international players, the Chinese BMX national team finalized a "big signing" during the 2023 Montpellier World Cup - the legendary freestyle BMX superstar, holding 5 X -Venezuelan rider Dels, who won a gold medal in Games, a silver medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and a gold medal in the 2019 Pan American Games, will serve as a foreign teacher. At the same time, Dels remains an athlete and is working hard to participate in the 2024 Paris Olympics in a farewell performance of his sports career.
Wu Dan, the head coach of the Chinese team, spoke highly of the addition of Dels, saying that his arrival can help the Chinese drivers make up for their lack of experience. Coach Wu said: "As a world champion and Olympic runner-up, his competition experience and competitive level are very high. His understanding of the culture of this project and training is also very high. After successfully integrating with the Chinese team, he has a very high level of training in this field." Together, as well as the skills and overall preparation methods of our players, it has been of great help to us. He has made a lot of suggestions, and it can be said that through his joining, our sports performance has also steadily improved. Athletes can integrate into the BMX family as soon as possible and enjoy the competition process in the arena with all the masters in the world.”
