A championship-winning BMX rider says she almost lost her desire to compete after not being selected for the Olympics.
Sasha Pardoe won gold at the 2024 European Freestyle Championships in Switzerland, claiming the women’s title for the second time with a score of 88.06.
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It comes shortly after the 20-year-old, from Kinver, Staffordshire, failed to make the GB squad ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
She told BBC Midlands Today that while she would never lose her love of BMX itself, not being selected for the team had affected her love of the game.
Nonetheless, Pardo said she started working towards the European Championships, which she “somehow” won, calling it an “amazing” experience.
“It definitely brought back my love for the game,” she said. “Overall, I’ll never lose my love for BMX. I’m just not as motivated.”
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Pardo was scheduled to compete at the 2025 World Championships in Saudi Arabia in November, but she fell during practice minutes before qualifying and fractured her shoulder blade.
When she subsequently returned to competition she suffered the same injury which meant she was unable to compete until the weekend at the National BMX Freestyle Series at RAF Shawbury in Shropshire, where she finished second.
Sasha Pardo says she still wants to compete in Olympics, but it’s ‘not the end goal’ [BBC]
The BMX park was built on Hanger 59 at the site before the Paris Olympics, and Pardoe said it was nice to have a place to practice close to where she lives.
With her sights now firmly set on the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, she said it was both “exciting” and “nervous” to think about the preparations over the next two years.
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But after what she experienced in 2024, she said competing in the Olympics was “not the most important thing.”
“This is something I really want to do,” she said. “I want to finish it and do my best, but there are a lot of other things in life besides the Olympics.”
“A good two years”
Her coach Declan Brooks, who won a bronze medal in BMX freestyle at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, said Pardo was “outstanding” when competing.
“We need to work on some big tricks, but we’ve got two years to do that, so I don’t think it’s a big issue,” he added.
Speaking about her injury before the World Championships, Brooks said: “It was a really tough race because the World Championships has always been a dream for us as riders.”
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He said the schedule was “a lot” but the riders trained hard and prepared in the best way possible.
“I feel like we’re going to have a good two years,” he added.
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