The number of quota positions Australia will be eligible for will depend on the results of our elite riders throughout the Qualification Period, 1 September 2018 to 1 June 2020
The world governing body for cycling, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) have released the BMX racing qualification system for the Games of the XXXII Olympiad, which will be held in Tokyo, Japan from July 24 to August 9, 2020.
BMX racing will have just one major change to its structure for Tokyo compared to the Rio 2016 Games. The change is in the allocation of men and women’s quota spots, which has been equalised at 24 quota places each.
READ THE QUALIFICATION GUIDE IN FULL, HERE
They key takeaways from the qualification system include the start and end of the qualification period for athletes and publishing of rankings of nations.
Beginning on September 1, 2018 the qualification period will open. It will then cease on June 1, 2020. On June 2, 2020 the UCI Olympic Qualification ranking and UCI BMX elite individual ranking will be published.
During the qualification period, results from defined events in the ‘qualification’ pathway will be considered for the UCI Olympic Qualification ranking, these are:
How many quota positions will Australia receive for Tokyo 2020?
The number of quota positions Australia will be eligible for will depend on the results of our elite riders throughout the Qualification Period.
For each gender, the UCI Olympic Qualification ranking is calculated by summing the UCI points of the three (3) highest ranked athletes (without making distinction between elite and junior) from each NOC, taking into consideration the events listed above.
Points are counted from 1 September 2018 to 1 June 2020 – the Qualification Period.
From there, the number of positions offered is as follows:
The above positions total 18 athletes per gender, of a total 24 for the upcoming Games. The remainder of the positions are filled as follows:
The above quota allocation takes the total number of positions offered to 23 of 24.
The last position per gender is a guaranteed one (1) quota place for the host country, if it did not qualify any qualification places. If the host country did qualify a qualification place, their guaranteed allocation will be given to the highest ranked NOC in the UCI Olympic Qualification ranking of 2 June 2020, which has not yet obtained a quota place.
Currently Australia is ranked ninth in the UCI Nation Ranking. France leads the charge, with the Netherlands second and United States of America third.
With another four rounds of the 2018 UCI BMX Supercross World Cup, and the 2018 UCI BMX World Championships all to take place prior to the beginning of the qualification period, there is every chance Australia could rise up the tables to start that period in a better position.
The first major world BMX events that will take place during the Olympic Qualification period will be rounds seven and eight of the world cup series in Santiago del Estero, Argentina from September 29-30.
