SW triathlete, BMX champ set to take on world

The gold medal hopes of the South West are with two Bunbury athletes who are preparing for the biggest races of their careers.

BMX star Lauren Reynolds and triathlete Ryan Bailie will both put a lifetime of hard work into action when they compete on the biggest stage in sports and take to the track for the 2016 Olympic Games.

Reynolds was due to compete last night to determine qualifying positions and will now wait for Saturday morning, where she is expected to be one of the favourites in the semi-final.

If Reynolds is successful she will compete in the final at the Olympic BMX Centre at 2am on Saturday.

The 25-year-old is in her second Olympic Games and is determined to finish higher than her 15th place she achieved in London, when she crashed out in the semi-finals.

Reynolds sits behind five-time Australian BMX rider of the year Caroline Buchanan in the rankings, but reports from Rio de Janeiro is she is the fittest she has ever been.

The Australian BMX team arrived in Brazil from San Diego, USA, where they trained on a track similar to that at the Games, which they hope will give them an advantage.

“We’re finally here, it’s been a long wait but I think everyone is excited,” Reynolds told The West Australian this week.

“The team is all in really good form and everyone has done all the work. The team should have high hopes and we should all do really well.”

Bailie will tonight find out if he is to good enough claim an Olympic Games medal, when the men’s triathlon race takes place at 10pm.

The 26-year-old trained in the Olympic pool on Monday and had a stationary-bike session on Tuesday ahead of tonight’s big final.

Bailie is in career-best form, sitting sixth in the World Triathlon Series rankings after excellent performances on the Gold Coast and in Hamburg earlier this year.