Paris Olympics: USA’s Perris Benegas wins silver in BMX Freestyle

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PARIS — Every park has its quirks, its eccentricities, its charms. Every park means the world to someone who spent their days learning to ride there. But no park on earth can match the history of the Parc Urbain, the skate/cycling/breaking hub in the heart of Paris. Here, history looms on all sides, and the only way to break free of that history is to rise above it — which is literally what two sets of medalists did on Tuesday at the BMX freestyle event at Place de la Concorde.

Unlike BMX racing, which pits riders against one another, freestyle gives riders the room and creativity to come up with as many tricks as they can pull off in two one-minute runs. In the women’s competition, the United States’ Hannah Roberts came into Wednesday as the top qualifier, and her first run started out strong — box jump, backflip, bar spin — that ended just a few seconds early when she was unable to land her final front flip and only scored a 70.00. Deng Yawen of China’s double tail whip and triple bar spin earned her a first-round-leading 92.50. Australia’s Natalya Diehm (88.80) and Chile’s Maracena Perez Grasset rounded out the top three.

Team USA’s Perris Benegas threw down a strong initial run, catching massive air for almost the entirety of her minute. She didn’t have quite the style that the judges craved, however, and she ended that round with an 83.40.

The first rider on the afternoon, France’s Laury Perez, a clear hometown favorite, fell hard on her very first trick and was unable to continue her first run. Perez was only able to manage a 63.40 in her second run. Sun Jiaqi of China suffered a scary fall at the end of her first round that left her shaken, but she left the course under her own power. She fell again early in her second run, eliminating all medal hopes, but she drew warm applause from the crowd for her determined effort to continue.

In her second run, Diehm couldn’t improve on her first, finishing with an 87.70. Chile’s Perez Grasset, riding to the pulse of Motley Crue’s “Kickstart My Heart,” moved up marginally with an 84.55. But Colombia’s Serna Villegas tipped her with a second-run 88.00, taking over the conditional bronze medal spot, but only for a moment.

On her second run, the United States’ Benegas once again climbed high into the air, but this time with a bit more style than the first round. Her second-run 90.70 leaped her all the way into a medal spot; the only question left was whether it would be silver or bronze.

Deng was riding with at least a silver medal in hand, and improved her score by one-tenth of a point, to an event-leading 92.60.

That meant the entire competition came down to Roberts, whose first run was well off the podium. But she didn’t cleanly land her first jump, and threw her bike down in frustration. An American would win a medal on Wednesday, but it wasn’t her. The silver would go to Benegas.