Chinese riders top women's BMX freestyle at Olympic Qualifier Series

Chinese riders Sun Sibei, Sun Jiaqi and Deng Yawen secured the top three spots in the women's BMX freestyle park preliminaries at the ongoing Olympic Qualifier Series on Friday, while their Venezuelan coach Daniel Dhers, who is also registered to compete in Shanghai himself, placed 12th in the men's event to retain his Olympic hopes.

Sun Sibei, 19, claimed the top spot with a score of 87.40 points, followed by Sun Jiaqi with 86.70 and Deng with 85.40.

"They (Chinese riders) have been super, super hot, super strong. And you know today, all of them held it together, they put on phenomenal runs. It was super fun to watch them ride," commented World Champion Hannah Roberts from the U.S.

In the men's draw, American Marcus Christopher finished first with 89.07 points, followed by Britain's Wayne Dylan Hessey with 87.29 and Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Martin Logan of Australia 86.83. China's Hai Yang failed to advance finishing at 20th.

In the sport climbing speed events, China's Wu Peng topped the standings in the men's preliminaries with a time of 4.94 seconds. Niu Di, Wang Shengyan, Zhang Shaoqin and Zhou Yafei advanced in the women's draw, with Zhou finishing second in 6.62 behind Poland's Aleksandra Kalucka in 6.55.

Also on Friday, Chinese climbers Luo Zhilu and Pan Yufei secured their spots in the Boulder & Lead semi-finals after finishing 6th and 11th in the women's and men's qualifications, respectively. Reigning Olympic champion Alberto Gines Lopez from Spain topped the men's event. 

In the women's skateboarding street qualifying round, China's 14-year-old Asian Games champion Cui Chenxi secured a fifth place with 79.76 points to reach the semi-finals, along with teammates Zhu Yuanling, Zhang Yan and Zeng Wenhui.

Australian skateboarder Keefer Wilson led the men's park qualification with 84.69 points, followed by USA's Jagger Eaton who also advanced in the street event earlier. 

(With input from Xinhua)