Australian BMX star Logan Martin has all but guaranteed himself the chance to defend his Olympic freestyle title in Paris by finishing second at the qualifying series event in Shanghai.
Riding in the last heat in the men’s final, Martin looked set to post a big score in his first run, only to fall with a few seconds remaining.
It meant he needed a strong showing in the second run and the 30-year-old proved well up to the task.
He produced a quad tail whip, tuck no-handed front flip, and a 900, to put up a score of 92.65, which was good enough for second place behind Frenchman Anthony JeanJean.
"I started off the (first) run with a with a couple of average landings, and I missed a transition a little bit, so by halfway through my run I was pretty gassed, I was a bit tired, and then I slipped up on one of my tricks and slid out," Martin said.
"And then going into that second run, I knew I needed to clean up those first few landings so I could continue the run smoothly and finish off that run.
"I'm excited to get these qualifying events done and to do my best to qualify for Paris.
"I'd love to go to another Olympics and do my best to back up my performance in Tokyo and give myself a good shot at winning another gold medal."
Fellow Australian Natalya Diehm qualified for the women's top-final in eighth position and finished up ninth.
She will now turn her attention to the next Olympic qualifying series event in Budapest in June.
At the BMX Racing world championships in Rock Hill, South Carolina, Australian world No.1 Saya Sakakibara was unable to recover from a poor start in the women's final and finished last.
The world title went to American Alise Willoughby, the wife of Australian Sam Willoughby, the silver medallist at the 2012 London Olympics.
