Paris Olympics 2024: Saya Sakakibara reveals she is battling illness amid medal hunt in BMX racing

Australian BMX racer Saya Sakakibara has revealed she was battling illness before dominating the qualifying rounds in Paris, putting herself on track for an emotional gold medal.

Sakakibara comfortably won all three of her races in the heats, pushing out in front early and avoiding any chaos to comfortably qualify for the final on Saturday morning (AWST).

The Australian rider crashed out in scary scenes during the Tokyo Olympics, just years after her brother Kai was left in wheelchair-bound after a crash on the bike.

Bunbury rider Lauren Reynolds finished third in all three races in the same heat and will also race in the final.

Sakakibara said she had been “not feeling it” right before the jump of her first race and missed a crucial pre-Olympics training session.

“I was sick and I missed a training session because I was sick,” she said after coasting through to the final. ‘

“When I came back I wasn’t feeling my best and for practice I was not feeling it, but once I got there on the first gate, the crowd, the atmosphere, that got me in the zone, put that pressure on me to perform.

“I was really counting on that pressure to get the best out of me and once I got that first one out of the way I was like ‘OK, I can do this’ and I just tried to repeat it another two times.”

Sakakibara said her qualifying rounds gave her the confidence she could work through illness for the medal race.

“It was definitely a confidence booster, the thing is I made minimal mistakes, they were all really consistent and consistently first is great,” she said.

“I want to be out the front, I want to have really good lap times so I can have the most inside lane.”

The 24-year-old would be one of the fairytale story of these Games if she can salute on Saturday and claim a maiden medal after breaking hearts with the brutal Tokyo crash that left her hospitalised and concussed three years ago.