BALLARAT has a new world champion with BMX star Josh Jolly taking out juniors men's title at the World Championships which were held in South Carolina, USA.
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The 18-year-old Ballarat-Sebastopol Cycling Club member overcame a lacklustre start in the final to power away to a big win by more than second.
He revealed after the race, he knew he would be able to overcome the poor start as he had been working on a corner move which he used to great effect in the finals.
It was that move into the first corner, diving underneath his rivals to slingshot into the lead that proved to be the tactical masterstroke.
From there he powered away, even able to do a little celebration on the line, so comfortable was his lead at the end.
After the race, Jolly revealed he replicated a similar first-corner move on the USA BMX pro tour earlier this year.
"I've been putting down pretty good laps all weekend. Didn't have the best of gates, so got a bit nervous on that one, but managed to pull it back," Jolly said.
"I pulled that (first corner) move on one of the USA BMX Nationals, so I knew I could do it and it paid off. I can't believe it."
It's been a phenomenal rise for the Ballarat teen, who first became Victoria champion in 2019.
Last August Jolly just missed out on a place in the final eight of the world championships which were held in Glasgow, but he has more than made up for it with victory in South Carolina.
Jolly's victory capped off a memorable day for Australia's juniors with Queenslander Teya Rufus taking out the junior girls race
The world championship crown completes a remarkable 2024 UCI season for 17-year-old Rufus, who also won the under-23 Women's World Cup in her debut year.
Meanwhile, Ballarat's sportswoman of the year, Alana Forster has finished second in the Individual Time Trial, Cycle 5 women's elite at the Para-Cycling UCI World Cup III event being held in Maniago, Italy.
Forster, the world track champion, finished second to France's Heidi Gaugain - the Frenchwoman won the event in a time of 12 minutes 44.42 seconds, 48 seconds ahead of Forster.
