In a rare weekend communique, UCI announced on Sunday that, due to COVID-19 concerns, it was suspending all “classifications” (sanctioning of events) until further notice, but at least until April 3; and also retroactively stopping all BMX Racing Olympic Qualification Points for Nations as of March 3 (link to story below).
This means that dozens of events that were to be the homestretch of qualifying season–including the 2020 UCI BMX World Championships– will now be excluded from the points tally.
This is due to the fact that, given travel restrictions around the world, there cannot be equal access to events. March 3 represents the date when the first-such travel ban went into effect.
BMX News International contributor, Carl Lein is among the foremost experts on the topic of UCI points, and we are honored to have his analysis of how the final March 3 points standings look, in terms of which nations have qualified how many riders.
*NOTE: These points only represent the number of slots any given nation will receive in the games. The method by which individual athletes qualify to fill those slots is up to the National Governing Body in each of those nations (USA Cycling for the United States).
Here is Carl’s analysis of how the allocations break out, along with some if/then
Men
Criteria 1 UCI Olympic Qualification (Nation) Ranking
1-2 qualify three riders
1. France/5410
2. Netherlands/5375
3-5 qualify two riders
3. USA/4332
4. Switzerland/3629
5. Colombia/3433
6-11 qualify one rider
6. Australia/3180
7. Great Britain/2985
8. Argentina/2632
9. Ecuador/2305
10. Brazil/2233
11. Russian Federation/1731
Olympic rules state that each continent has to be given the opportunity to be represented.
Africa is not represented in the top 11. Highest ranking African country is South Africa in 18th with 1145. This effectively bumps Russia out.
Criteria 2 – Elite Individual Points
Top three riders from countries not already qualified from Criteria 1 qualify one rider.
Norway/Tore Navrestad in 25th
Canada/James Palmer in 28th
Russia/Evgeny Kleschenko in 32nd (Remember Russia was in 11th for Nations
ranking, but got bumped)
Criteria 3 2020 World Championships
If the 2020 Worlds do happen then whoever gets the highest finish who is not already qualified from Criteria 1 or 2.
If the race is cancelled then I believe the quotas will be reallocated to the next two highest ranking countries in the Olympic Qualification (Nations) Ranking.
That would be:
12. Latvia/1332
13. Italy/1325
Host Nation quota Japan
If South Africa doesn’t accept their Continental inclusion quota that, too, would be reallocated to the next highest country in the Olympic Qualification (Nations) Ranking.
14. Germany/1288
Women
Criteria 1 UCI Olympic Qualification (Nation) Ranking
1-2 qualify three riders
1. Netherlands/5600
2. USA/5450
3-5 qualify two riders
3. France/4075
4. Australia/3665
5. Russia/3361
6-11 qualify one rider
6. Brazil/3003
7. New Zealand/2988
8. Colombia/2885
9. Denmark/2357
10. Canada/2135
11. Switzerland/2097
Olympic rules state that each continent has to be given the opportunity to be represented.
Africa is not represented in the top 11. Highest ranking African country is Egypt in 31st with 190.
This effectively bumps Switzerland out.
Criteria 2 Elite Individual Points
Top three riders from countries not already qualified from Criteria 1 qualify one rider.
Great Britain/Bethany Shriever in 14th
Ecuador/Domenica Azuero in 17th
Japan/Sae Hatakeyama in 27th (this reallocates the Host Nation quota to next highest ranking country in the Olympic Qualification (Nations) Ranking.)
Criteria 3 2020 World Championships
If the 2020 Worlds do happen then whoever gets the highest finish who is not
already qualified from Criteria 1 or 2.
If the race is cancelled then I believe the quotas will be reallocated to the next two highest ranking countries in the Olympic Qualification (Nations) Ranking.
That would be:
15. Latvia/1380
16. Germany/1201
12, 13, and 14 qualified in Criteria 2 (Ecuador, Japan, and Great Britain,
respectively)
Host Nation quota
Japan’s Sae Hatakeyama already qualified Japan in Criteria 2. That means that Japan won’t use the Host Nation quota which will be reallocated to the next highest ranking country in the Olympic Qualification
(Nations) Ranking.
11. Switzerland/2097
If Egypt doesn’t accept their Continental inclusion quota that, too, would be reallocated to Olympic Qualification (Nations) Ranking.
17. Thailand/1200
A lot depends on the order in which they reallocate.
It is my understanding from reading the rules they would send out all of the quotas on a certain date.
If they don’t hold the Worlds I don’t know if they’ll immediately offer the quotas to the next highest ranking countries or if they will offer everything except those quotas, wait to see who accepts what is sent out, and then reallocate all available/unused quotas.
If they do hold the worlds several other countries could qualify:
Men: Chile (Palominos), New Zealand (Bias), and Venezuela’s Jefferson Milano would be the biggest disappointment to me.
Women: No word where Venezuela’s Stefany Hernandez is in her efforts.
—Carl
Stick with BMX News for continuing coverage of how COVID-19 is affecting the 2020 racing schedule, and the sport as a whole.
