{"id":40785,"date":"2025-08-03T17:17:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-03T17:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/40785\/"},"modified":"2025-08-03T17:17:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-03T17:17:08","slug":"alexis-alden-scores-bronze-in-junior-womens-race-at","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/40785\/","title":{"rendered":"Alexis Alden Scores Bronze in Junior Women\u2019s Race at\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

The final day of racing at the\u00a02025 UCI BMX Racing World Championships<\/a> was held under wet and wild conditions in Copenhagen. Despite heavy rain and unpredictable track conditions, Team USA riders looked strong across all categories. Highlighting the day was Alexis Alden (Peachtree City, Ga.; Albe\u2019s Bike Shop), who brought home a bronze medal in the Junior Women\u2019s main event, with Derin Merten\u00a0(Tempe, Ariz.; Race Inc.) right behind in fourth.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Junior Women<\/p>\n

In the Junior Women\u2019s race, both Alden and Merten advanced to the main event after tactical rides in the semifinals. Mertenrode a smart and defensive race to hold onto third place in her semi, while Alden grabbed the final transfer spot after charging out of the gate and maintaining position through the pressure from the back of the pack.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The main event was hectic from the start.\u00a0Alden\u00a0had a solid start and found herself in a fierce battle for the podium, never letting up. Just behind her, a major crash took out half the field, but\u00a0Merten\u00a0was able to narrowly avoid it and remained in contention. As the race came down to a photo finish,\u00a0Alden\u00a0went bar-to-bar with France\u2019s\u00a0Lola de Oliveira. A late crash from\u00a0Oliveira\u00a0just before the finish allowed\u00a0Alden\u00a0to win the sprint to the line and claim the bronze medal.\u00a0Merten\u00a0stayed consistent and crossed the line in fourth place, capping off a strong performance for the U.S. juniors.<\/p>\n

Junior Men<\/p>\n

In the Junior Men\u2019s field, Evan Esposito (Palm Springs, Fla.; Albe\u2019s Bike Shop) earned the final transfer spot in his quarterfinal and looked to capitalize on momentum in the semis. Although he didn’t have the best start, a crash in the turn ahead of him opened the door for a potential comeback. He ultimately finished sixth, just missing a spot in the main event.<\/p>\n

U23 Women<\/p>\n

The U23 Women\u2019s race saw a tough break for Keiley Shea (La Habra, Calif.; 316 Racing), who crashed hard in her quarterfinal after being clipped from behind. Despite remounting and pushing to the line, she was unable to advance, ending her day at the World Championships.<\/p>\n

Elite Women<\/p>\n

Daleny Vaughn (Tucson, Ariz.; Biolab Sciences\/DK Bicycles) had a slow start out of the gate in her quarterfinal but powered through the second straight to move into third place and hold it through to the finish, advancing to the semis. Payton Ridenour (Pottstown, Penn.; Union Square Sneakers) rode aggressively from the start and stayed locked in third position to also advance. The rain picked up again during the semifinals, making for challenging racing. Vaughn battled hard in a tight group but wasn\u2019t able to make the key passes and missed out on the main event. Ridenour started strong and was in a transfer position early. As the group entered turn two, she was on the outside as several riders passed beneath her and was shuffled back to finish fifth, just one spot short of the final.<\/p>\n

Elite Men<\/p>\n

In the quarterfinal, Cameron Wood (Bozeman, Mont.; Mongoose\/USA BMX Foundation) looked strong but went down on the third straight, unfortunately ending his campaign early. Kamren Larsen (Bakersfield, Calif.; Factory SSquared\/Answer) had a fast start and was sitting third for much of his quarterfinal, but a tight battle behind him forced him to drop back to seventh by the finish, unable to transfer to semis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Drew Polk (Avon, Ind.; Factory Syndyt\/LSG) had one of the strongest runs of the day, clawing his way into the final transfer spot in quarters. In the semis, he continued to fight hard but couldn\u2019t break into the top four. Still, making an elite semifinal at the World Championships is a major achievement for the young American.<\/p>\n

USA Cycling\u2019s participation in the World Championships is made possible through the support of dedicated donors and partners. To support the USA Cycling National Team, members can donate to the USA Cycling Foundation\u00a0here<\/a>. USA Cycling’s supporting partner for this event includes\u00a0HOVERAir<\/a>, who shares our mission to elevate the sport and inspire the next generation of cyclists.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The final day of racing at the\u00a02025 UCI BMX Racing World Championships was held under wet and wild…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40786,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,3170,3171,3176,3178,3174,3181,1650,3180,3183,3187,784,3182,3175,3188,3172,3189,3177,3186,3190,3179,3173,822,3184,85,3185,3192,3191],"class_list":["post-40785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bicycle","tag-bike","tag-bike-event","tag-bike-mechanic","tag-bike-race","tag-coach","tag-coaches","tag-commissaire","tag-criterium","tag-cross-country","tag-cycling","tag-cycling-coach","tag-cycling-event","tag-downhill","tag-events","tag-gravity","tag-mechanic","tag-mountain-bike","tag-national-championship","tag-official","tag-race","tag-racing","tag-road-race","tag-sports","tag-time-trial","tag-us-cycling","tag-usac"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}