July 29, 2006, Sao Paulo, Brazil – Day 1 – Canada’s Christine Miller (Airdrie, AB) took the 5th place finish yesterday in the junior category of the Junior & Elite Championship class races in Brazil’s UCI BMX World Championships.

The riders did three rounds of qualification, starting at12:30pm Eastern Time on Friday July 28.

It was a bright day for Canada’s Junior Women, the four of them having qualified for the 1/8 finals. Christine Miller (Airdrie, AB) finished 4th in her heat and moved on to the semi finals. Layne Nyhaug (Port Coquitlam, BC) crashed in the 1/4 finals and , BC) finished 5th and 6th and were eliminated.

Christine Miller, who already did well in the qualifications, signed Canada’s best performance 5th place finish in the Junior Women category.

In the Junior Men category, Jim Brown (Airdrie, AB) and Nick Goertzen (Abbotsford, BC) qualified for the semi-finals, after finishing 3rd and 4th in the 1/4 finals. Unfortunately, in the semi-finals, they both crashed and did not advance.

Patrick Lebel (Calgary, AB) was the only rider in the Elite Men category to move on to the 1/4 finals, where he finished 5th and was eliminated from the competition (only top four athletes from each moto move on to the finals). Lebel, 19, top Elite man in the BMX National rankings (challenge and cruiser), had a disappointing day with a crash on the first round of qualification.

Aaron Lepp (Calgary, Alberta), Scott Erwood (Abbotsford, BC) and Kevin Hill (Vernon BC) did not earn enough points to move on to the elimination rounds.

In the Elite Women category, Samantha Cools (Airdrie AB) made it to the semi-finals, but she broke her chain out of the gate, and finished last which did not unable her to qualify for finals.

Full official results can be found here

For further information, contact:

Florence Bourg
Communications Manager
Canadian Cycling Association
Cell.: 418-558-4559
florence.bourg@canadian-cycling.com