Australian Caroline Buchanan put the demons of the London Olympics behind her when she won the Elite Women’s title at the UCI BMX World Championships inside the Vector Arena. “I had first lane choice at London,” said Buchanan
“I took lane 3 and blew it. I made sure I didn’t make the same mistake again and went for lane one this time around.”She got the holeshot and cut off Olympic champion
Mariana Pajon in the first straight, taking the Columbian out of contention.
“When it comes to finals you’ve got to release the mongrel and get aggressive. I just wanted to get out front and stay out of trouble,” said
Buchanan.Once the dust settled fellow Australian
Lauren Reynolds was second and
Manon Valentino of France was third.
Auckland was the first international BMX event Buchanan has done since the Olympics.
“I put a lot of pressure on myself to succeed.” And it’s not over yet. Buchanan will be contesting the World Downhill Mountain bike and Mountain bike 4 Cross championships – a title she has won twice before – over the next two months.