Youth Olympic Cycling: Nur Nasthasia fails to progress past BMX semi-final while Alvin Phoon crashes out at quarter-final

By Noor Farhan and Wong Hong Yong/Red Sports. Photos by Vanessa Lim/Red Sports.

Tampines Bike Park, Thursday, August 19, 2010 — Singapore’s BMX rider Nur Nasthasia Nadiah was seeded 12th out of 31 competitors in the BMX seeding phase earlier this morning. Alvin Phoon Hui Zhi, Singapore’s entry for the men’s event, crashed midway through after miscalculating a flight off the hump after the first bend of the circuit, injuring his ankle slightly in the process.

Nasthasia managed to avoid most of the top seeded riders in her draw. However, she had to watch out for South Africa’s O’Keeffe Teagan and Denmark’s Mette Jepsen, who were fourth and fifth seeds respectively.

Nur Nasthasia finished third in Run 1 of her quarter-final, with a commendable time of 43.065 seconds, 5.612s behind the leader Teagan O’Keefe, who finished with a time of 37.453s. Even though Nasthasia bettered her time in her second run with 42.957s, she was bumped down to fourth by Canada’s Kristina Laforge who clocked a time of 42.683s.

Nasthasia clocked 42.560s in Run 3 to push all the way through to the semi-final of the Junior Women’s BMX. She accumulated a total of 10 points, enough to place her 3rd in her heat group and move on to the semi-final. In total she bettered her time twice, shaving a good 0.505s off her initial timing.

In the semi-final, Nasthasia came in sixth in her first run with a time of 42.674 seconds. The group was led by Brazil’s Perez Mayara, who came in seventh in the recently concluded World Junior championships. She blazed the rest of the competition by completing her first run in 36.818s, the fastest timing at the Junior Woman’s BMX event today.

In second place was Teagan O’Keeffe of South Africa with a time of 38.019s, Jepsen Mette of Denmark a further 0.697s behind, with Linda Indergand rounding up the top four with a time of 40.193s.

The rankings for Run 2 stayed relatively the same, with only Jepsen Mette of Denmark moving from 3rd to 2nd, displacing O’Keeffe Teagan of South Africa in the process. Nasthasia shaved 0.384s off her first run timing, but it was not enough to move her up the rankings, as Munizaga Holloway and Inergand Linda produced similar efforts to keep her at bay.

Nasthasia, completed her third run in 41.385s. It was not to be, however, as the rest of the riders above her finished strongly and she maintained her 6th placing in heat 1. It was not enough for her to progress to the final as only the top four finishers move on.

On the other hand, Alvin was up against strong competition in his quarter-final heat, having to compete against Columbia’s Oquendo David, who came in fourth in the recently concluded World Junior championships in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. He clocked 41.300s in his first run, coming in seventh.

In his second run, Alvin still could not improve on his position in the group, coming in 0.159s slower than his first run and finished a massive 9.52 seconds off leader David Oquendo, who clocked 31.780s.

Despite all his efforts, Alvin finished with a total of 21 points and a dismal second-last place in his heats. He was unable to improve on his initial timing of 41.300 seconds, and finished his third run with a time of 41.749s.

He did not move on to the semi-final, but will be competing in the upcoming Road Race on Sunday, August 22.

“The wind came at me, and I lost speed and therefore resulted in my fall,” said Alvin, when asked about what had cause his fall during the Seeding stage.

“I am feeling a little disappointed at my performance today, but I am much more confident of beating the competition at the upcoming road race.”

Nasthasia on the other hand had only this to add after her majestic performance: “I’m just feeling quite tired right now.”

Download Results
Junior Women’s BMX Final
Junior Women’s BMX Semi-final
Junior Women’s BMX Quarter-final
Junior Men’s BMX Final
Junior Men’s BMX Semi-final
Junior Men’s BMX Quarter-final