Beth Shriever: 'I was gutted, but life goes on'

A BMX racer tipped to win a medal at the Paris Olympics said "life goes on" after she was beaten in the final.

Beth Shriever had won all six of her races leading up to last event but was boxed in from the start and could not recover.

The 25-year-old from Finchingfield in Essex, who won gold at the Tokyo 2020 Games, said she had taken a week off to "reflect on it all" and on the whole was "feeling good".

She said winning a medal at the Los Angeles 2028 Games was her "next big goal".

"Obviously in the moment I was gutted but it was an Olympic games and there's only one winner," she told the BBC.

"I was flying, I was in great shape and I think the fact I was ahead of everyone by that much shocked me because I had broken my collarbone going into this so I had no expectations."

Shriever crashed and fractured her collarbone in the semi-final of the BMX Racing World Championships in South Carolina in May.

She said the fracture had not fully recovered by the time she started competing at the Games.

When lining up for the final race, she said she chose gate six as the "safer option" as she had not been able to fully practice leaving the gate due to her collarbone injury.

She hoped that by being one of the outside riders she could use her speed and "get over" if she failed to get off to a good start.

"It just so happens that in the final, the girl on the outside had the gate of her life and she shut me down straight away," she said.

"I gave it my best out there. Even when I was behind I was trying to scramble my way back."

Shriever, a two-time world champion, finished last.

"If my collarbone [injury] hadn't have happened maybe I'd have been even faster. You just don't know," added Shriever, a former Braintree BMX Club member.

"I've just got to keep fighting, training hard and hopefully some results will come with."

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