Manchester's Charlotte Worthington gets gold for GB after a near-flawless BMX run.

She's the first woman to land a 360-degree flip in competition.

Charlotte Worthington won gold for Team GM in freestyle BMX.
Author: John CosseePublished 1st Aug 2021

Charlotte Worthington from Chorlton has won the gold medal in the BMX freestyle in Tokyo - landing a historic trick in the final.

She completed 360-degree flip in her second run - the first ever by a woman in competition.

Despite falling in her first run failing to land the flip, she managed a clean second attempt, scoring a huge score of 97.50.

It proved too much for the other athletes, including three-time world champion Hannah Roberts of the United States.

Worthington's mother Sarah told Times Radio it felt like "a bit like a dream".

She said: "When she did her first run today and she had the fall doing that new trick of that 360 thing, I wasn't sure whether she'd even get a medal really.

"I thought how do you come back from having a fall like that and it looked like it might have hurt. So, I was just absolutely amazed."

Charlotte told PA:

"There's been a stigma around extreme sports for many years... that you're a school dropout and you get up to things that you shouldn't be.

"We're athletes as much as Usain Bolt is an athlete. We train just as hard, we sacrifice just as much and we've seen the results and we've reaped the rewards."

The 25-year-old worked as a chef in a Mexican restaurant before the Olympic Games.

"In 2018, I went to a couple of events and contests and got speaking to people and found out about BMX being in the Olympics and British cycling were putting together a team.

"At the time, I was just taking a lot of really cool opportunities that I enjoyed doing and it just kind of snowballed from there."

Her victory comes after Bethany Shriever got the gold in BMX racing, and Kye White got the silver in the men's event.

Declan Brooks managed bronze in the men's freestyle, meaning Team GB finished on the podium in all four BMX competitions in Tokyo.

Team GB are now on 10 gold medals and and sit in 6th place in the Olympic table.