Olympic BMX hopeful critical after horror crash
OLYMPIC BMX hopeful Kai Sakakibara suffered head injuries in a crash on Saturday morning.
The 23-year-old from the Gold Coast was flown to Canberra Hospital, and BMX Australia reported he was in a critical but stable condition.
The champion rider crashed at the third round of the UCI BMX Supercross World Cup at the Bathurst BMX Club in NSW after clipping another rider's wheel on the second corner of the track.
"BMXA will provide support to Kai and his family," a statement said.
The multiple national champion was racing alongside his sister Saya at the event in the hunt for a spot at this year's Tokyo Olympics.
It is believed that Sakakibara knows the Bathurst track well and has been attending meetings there for the past few years.
Sakakibara was born on the Gold Coast and started racing BMX at the age of four before his family moved to Tokyo in 2000.
He won the Japanese national championships in 2004, 2005 and 2006 and finished sixth in the world championships.
The family moved back to Australia in 2007 and he continued racing out of Southlake Illawarra BMX Club on his way to winning more national and state titles.
