Kieran Reilly thanks ‘lucky mullet’ for BMX silver

Somewhere in Corby is a barber who can expect a generous tip from Kieran Reilly the next time the BMX star pops in for a skin fade. The 23-year-old Geordie, whose larger-than-life personality stands in inverse proportion to his 5ft 2in stature, took silver in one of the most thrilling events of these Games so far on Wednesday, and then joked that his “lucky mullet” had helped him.

Even if he never meant to get one. “I used to just get a taper fade,” Reilly told the media after his incredible final run, which ended with something called a ‘720 double tailwhip’, was only deemed by the judges to be good enough for second place. “I literally went to the barbers, he botched it and I thought ‘You know what, this is the ideal time. I’m growing it out! I’m going to have a mullet.’ And as I was growing it out, I went to the Euros, my first competition with it, done well [he won gold] and thought ‘I quite like this.’ So yes, you could say it’s a lucky mullet! I’m not superstitious but it’s doing its job.”

Mullets aside, this was a serious business. What a final. What a sport. Should BMX freestyle be an Olympic discipline? Does it deserve its place at the Games? That is a matter for debate. Many purists decry the rise of  ‘urban’ pursuits such as BMX and skateboarding deeming them to be a naked attempt to get ‘the yoof’ onside.

Maybe. But what you can say with absolute certainty is that the BMX freestyle requires mind-boggling levels of bravery, skill, dedication and athleticism. And it is highly entertaining. Some of the tricks on display in the final left the crowds slack-jawed, staring in disbelief at what they had just seen, trying to compute how many times this or that rider had spun his bike around in mid-air whilst simultaneously performing a backflip.

Fortunately, we had an American PA announcer who sounded as if he had come straight from the X Games but was incredibly helpful. “Did you see that? “Backflip tailwhip down the step-down!” he would scream. “Harder to do because it’s a steeper landing.”

Reilly, going off last after topping qualifying on Tuesday, had the advantage of knowing what everyone had done in their runs before he did his. The issue was that the Argentinian Jose Torres Gil had simply set too high a benchmark. Torres’s first run of 94.82 (“Damn, that is how you make your presence felt in the final!” roared the PA announcer) proved to be unbeatable, though everyone had a good crack.

Home favourite Anthony Jeanjean landed awkwardly on his first run and lost a shoe. Reigning Olympic champion Logan Martin managed a “table flip” before he too crashed out. Reilly moved into silver medal position with his first run, which was packed with more tricks than a magicians’ convention. In the second and final run, Jeanjean beat Reilly’s score with an extraordinary performance many in the crowd felt should have been good enough for gold, relegating Reilly to the bronze medal position before his final run.

The reigning world champion was never going to be content with that. “I wanted to go for gold,” he said afterwards. “I wanted to leave everything out there.” He did that and more. Reilly literally followed the Olympic motto of Citius, Altius, Fortius to the letter, going higher and faster than ever.

“Today I ended my run with a 720 double tailwhip which in this last year of competing would have been the biggest trick in my entire run,” he said. “So to finish with that, under fatigue, took a lot of commitment.” He ended by throwing his bike to the ground and sinking to his knees, awaiting the judges’ scores.

He admitted he thought he might have done enough. The judges, whose scores are based on a variety of criteria from execution to amplitude, flow to risk factor, did not agree. Although 93.91 was enough to lift him back up to second.

“Jose rode absolutely amazing – I would never take that away from him,” Reilly shrugged. “But either way I’m happy. Watching that back tomorrow I know I’ll be proud of what I did.”

Reilly’s parents and grandparents, his brother and sister, many of them wearing the colours of their beloved Newcastle United, were certainly proud. Their colourful presence in the stands has also been one of the highlights of these Games. “I actually got asked for my dad’s phone number yesterday [by Adidas] to sort him one of the new strips,” Reilly revealed.

What next, he was asked. Would he like to be asked to parade his medal at St James’ Park? “I would love to parade this around St James Park,” Reilly exclaimed. “I would love to parade this around a box at St James Park! Season’s not started yet if anyone wants to offer…”

Men’s BMX freestyle final: As it happened . . .

02:56 PM BST

View from the streets in Paris . . .

02:43 PM BST

Great entertainment

02:43 PM BST

It wasn’t gold but that silver means...

Team GB’s medal tally now stands at 17 – six golds, six silvers and five bronzes.

Five of those medals have been won today (two golds, one silver and two bronzes).

Fair to say it’s been a good day so far...

02:35 PM BST

Jose Torres Gil is a surprise winner

Apparently the judges wanted to see the riders push the limits of what’s possible and that’s what the Argentinian did with his first run. Remember, he was the third rider to go and no one could pass his score of 94.82 thereafter.

02:30 PM BST

Here’s how Reilly won silver

02:29 PM BST

Has he done enough?

No...he scores 93.71.

Enough to move him up to silver from bronze but it’s not enough to displace Jose Torres Gil from gold-medal position.

02:26 PM BST

Kieran Reilly is guaranteed a bronze

But he wants gold...

Off he goes, starting with a 360-whip. Then a double-whip. A 720-bar  spin follows. It’s all looking good so far...

At the end he looks happy with his run, it was super technical and it’s in the hands of the judges now...

Has he done enough?

Answer in the next post...

02:24 PM BST

Another gold medal hopeful

The US’ Marcus Christopher goes again. He, too, needs a big second run after only scoring 29.40 in the first round.

His facial expression betrays the fact he knows he hasn’t done enough for the gold.

And he’s right. He scores 93.11. That’s only good enough for fourth.

02:20 PM BST

Defending champion

Logan Martin goes again. A poor first run means, as with Jeanjean, he needs a huge second run. And he, again, makes an early mistake and that it that...he will not successfully defend his title.

This is a sport of very fine margins, where one error can destroy title hopes.

‘This final is on it’s head’ the slightly hyperbolic BBC commentator says...

02:16 PM BST

Jeanjean goes again

He fell early on in his first round. He needs a big second run and it’s so far so good, the crowd is loving it. That one was great and if the crowd was judging then he’d have the gold (no real shock there, he being French and all that...).

What do the actual judges think?

They take their time before disagreeing handing out a 93.76 score, that’s only good enough for silver.

Reilly slips to bronze with his last run to come.

Argentina’s Jose Torres Gil still has his hands on the gold.

02:11 PM BST

Rim Nakamura

Moves into third after his second run. It seems the judges are tightening up their scores having gone big early on. Bad sign for Reilly?

02:10 PM BST

Many thought Reilly had done enough to take the lead

02:09 PM BST

Still no one has improved on their first runs

So it’s as you were, with Reilly still in second.

02:05 PM BST

The second runs are under way

Neither Gustavo Oliveira nor Ernest Zebolds have improved on their first runs.

02:00 PM BST

Scores after first runs

1. Jose Torres Gil 94.82

2. Kieran Reilly 93.70

3. Nakamura Rimu 90.35

4. Gustavo Oliveira 90.20

5. Justin Dowell 88.35

6. Ernest Zebolds 86.04

7. Logan Martin 64.40

8. Marcus Christoper 29.40

9. Anthony Jeanjean 3.22

01:58 PM BST

Time for Kieran Reilly!

Good table top off the island...he starts well, there’s a double bar spin in there...He nails a double whip and a front-foot over and he is very happy with that as are the crowd, going on their roars, they loved what they saw there.

How will he score? Can he take the lead?

No, but with 93.70 he is currently in silver-medal position.

01:55 PM BST

Marcus Christopher

Also falls early on - another contender goes down...

Is this all going the way of Kieran Reilly before he’s even had a run?

The top three riders as it stands are three of the lowest qualifiers...

01:53 PM BST

Logan Martin of Australia

Executes a fine table flip before he crashes. He’s OK, for a moment he looked hurt. He rarely makes mistakes, so this is a surprise. A score of 64.40, so as with Jeanjean it’s all about the second run for one of the favourites.

01:50 PM BST

US rider Justin Dowell

The technical rider puts in a big run. There’s no halfway house with him, it’s all or nothing and he fully commits here. It’s not a bad strategy as he scores 88.35...thought he might have scored more than that.

The judges are effectively saying: “we want to see you go big.”

01:48 PM BST

Home hope Anthony Jeanjean

Suffers a disaster as his back wheel goes on impact. In the process his shoe goes flying. He’ll have it all to do on his second run now as that run earned him a mere 3.22...

01:46 PM BST

What has Reilly got up his sleeve?

01:45 PM BST

Japan’s Rim Nakamura

With a fantastic first run. He scores 90.35 to move into second.

01:42 PM BST

Jose Torres Gil

Of Argentina starts impressively but his last trick won’t count as it was outside the time.

He scores 94.82 and he moves into first place. Good scoring already...

01:38 PM BST

Brazil’s Gustavo Oliveira is next up

He nails a backward flip triple bar and a giant triple-whip and that helps him to a score of 90.20...

Two riders in and we’re already into the 90s...we may well see some big scores to go.

01:35 PM BST

Ernests Zebolds of Latvia

Goes first.

He just made it into the final and he’s happy with his performance. He scores 86.04. The judges have set their barometer and the other riders know where they stand.

01:32 PM BST

The athletes are being introduced

So we’re moments away from the start.

A reminder that every rider has two runs (their best score counting, rather than the average) with which to try and grab gold.

Will Reilly’s confidence and ‘lucky’ mullet to the trick? We’re about to find out.

01:29 PM BST

It’s Reilly’s first Olympics

And he’ll go last today, he has the luxury of watching what everyone is doing and how the judges are scoring. BUT he’ll have all those nerves accumulating and, I imagine, a lot of nervous energy building up. A help or a hinderance. We’re about to find out.

01:26 PM BST

Is a third gold on its way?

Kieran Reilly will certainly hope so.

01:18 PM BST

It’s hot, it’s very hot...

01:13 PM BST

Double heartache for Hannah Roberts

01:05 PM BST

Deng Yawen

Of China has just gone into the lead. Hannah Roberts of the USA is the last to go, can she grab the gold?

No! She falls early on and that’s it! Deng is the women’s BMX freestyle.

1. Deng Yawen (China)

2. Perris Benegas (USA)

3. Natalya Diehm (Australia)

12:58 PM BST

Special mention to Sun Jiaqi

The Chinese competitor fell early on and twisted her seat. But she stayed out there and did brilliantly, nailing a double tail whip in the process. Bravo. She’s in seventh place after her run. Without the fall that had all the makings of a gold-medal performance.

12:54 PM BST

‘This is the cycling equivalent of an art gallery’

According to the BBC commentator calling the women’s final taking place at the moment.

Perris Benegas has just gone into second place for the USA.

12:45 PM BST

Theses Games have already served up a lot of good photos

And here’s another.

Kieran Reilly with the Eiffel Tower in the distance. Definitely one for the mantlepiece.

12:38 PM BST

The women’s final has just got under way

Unfortunately, Charlotte Worthington will not be taking part. The defending champion and first woman to nail a 360 backflip in competition did not make it through to today.

On Tuesday, the 28 year-old was still trying to process how she had finished 11th out of 12 riders in the qualifying round of Paris 2024.

Here’s a good read on what Worthington had to overcome just to even make it to Paris.

Charlotte Worthington suffered ‘twisties’ in build-up as Olympic defence ends in tears

12:29 PM BST

Team GB have won two golds so far today

Can Kieran Reilly add to the treasure chest later on? The final is due to get under way at just gone 1.30pm our time.

Here are two good graphics that illustrate how we’re getting on in Paris, and how we’re getting on compared to other Games.

12:18 PM BST

Newcastle out to support their boy

12:01 PM BST

Let it roll . . .

Team GB rider Kieran Reilly will compete in this afternoon’s men’s BMX freestyle final where the 23-year-old will be hoping to add a gold medal to a palmarès that includes European and world titles.

The Newcastle-born rider has long been laying down world-first tricks on a bike, with the past few years seeing him pick up major BMX freestyle medals too. After European silver in 2022, he added European Games gold a year later, alongside being crowned men’s BMX freestyle world champion — the first time a Briton had achieved the feat.

Reilly sailed effortlessly through the Paris skies and was the only rider with an average score over 90 after his two one-minute rides.

“Qualifying is always one of the most stressful stages of the competition,” he said. “The final is a different beast ... If you’ve watched me compete before, tomorrow I’m going to blow that all out of the water”.

Logan Martin, the reigning Olympic champion from Australia, qualified in third position, while US riders Marcus Christopher and Justin Dowell came second and fourth.

Lifted by a lively home crowd, French rider Anthony Jeanjean was fifth in what he said was part of a strategy to keep the pressure on the rest of the pack.

“We have applied this strategy all year and it has worked well. Fifth place is a good base for tomorrow,” he said.

A four-time European championship medallist, Jeanjean finished seventh in Tokyo, but is one of the favourites to win on home soil this year.

Charlotte Worthington will not defend her women’s title after she suffered in the build-up to the Paris Games. Telegraph Sport revealed on Tuesday the extent of the struggles Worthington faced in the past couple of years, when she became crippled by BMX freestyle’s version of the ‘twisties’. Read our special report here.