World champion Hannah Roberts’s Olympic BMX dream ends with crushing familiarity

The American has dominated her sport for years. But, three years after a painful debut in Tokyo, she finished outside the medals once again

Three years ago Hannah Roberts, already the best freestyle BMX rider of her generation before her 20th birthday, entered the women's park competition at the Tokyo Olympics as the overwhelming favorite, having swept the entire World Cup schedule in addition to the past two world championships. After qualifying first for the final, her opening-run score at the Ariake Urban Sports Park was nearly seven points better than anyone in the field. But when Britain's Charlotte Worthington laid down the ride of her life to move into gold medal position, Roberts went home with silver after landing hard on an early jump and abandoning the rest of her final run. She'd later admit she competed the entire time with a taped-up broken foot.

Now 22 and still the dominant force in her sport, and with three more world titles under her belt, Roberts has spoken at length about how that disappointment has motivated her, pushing her forth through countless six-hour training days on the bike or in the gym when she's not courting sponsors to pay the bills. All signs pointed to a redemptive gold at these Paris Olympics even before the competition was blown open during Tuesday's preliminary round, which saw Roberts top all qualifiers once again while defending champion Worthington and Tokyo bronze medalist Nikita Ducarroz failed to reach the final.