Day, Bennett, Robinson in Round of 16; Kintner Qualifies Seventh in Women's Race 

Beijing, China (August 20, 2008)-Bicycle Motocross (BMX) made its Olympic debut Wednesday as American athletes illustrated their might by advancing all three men's competitors to Thursday's semifinal heats.



Kyle Bennett (Conroe, Texas), Mike Day (Santa Clarita, Calif.) and Donny Robinson (Napa, Calif.) all qualified for the round of 16. By doing so, the United States is the only country that advanced three competitors to the semifinals.



Competing in the same eight-man bracket, Day and Robinson placed first and third respectively after three quarterfinal heats to claim a spot in the semifinals. Day's win was triggered by a dominating performance that saw him win all three heats, clearly marking him as one of the favorites heading into Thursday. After a rough start, Robinson recovered from a crash-induced sixth-place finish in heat one to place second and third in the next two heats.



In the second bracket, Bennett looked solid in his first two heats, placing second and fourth, but came dangerously close to elimination after crashing in his third heat. While exiting turn one, Bennett went down after failing to avoid a pair of riders that crashed in front of him. The result was a dislocated left shoulder, which was immediately treated by team doctors on course. And even though he eventually re-mounted his bike and rolled across the finish line, he was credited with a DNF - did not finish - and given the maximum of eight points. Still, his point total was low enough to advance him to the semifinals and is expected to compete on Thursday.



For Day, his dominant performance began in the individual time trial round, used to seed the 32 entrants into four different eight-man brackets. His time of 35.692 seconds in his second of two attempts was the field's fastest of the day. Latvian Maris Stombergs clocked a 35.910 as the only other rider to post a time under 36 seconds.



Bennett earned the 12th seed in qualifying with a 36.421, while Robinson rode a 36.810 to grab the 24th seed.



In Thursday's semifinals, all three Americans will be matched against each other in the same bracket as Bennett, Day and Robinson join Marc Willers (NZL), Sifiso Nhlapo (RSA), Andres Jimenez (COL), Raymon van der Biezen (NED) and Arturs Matisons (LAT) in the first bracket.



Strombergs, Jared Graves (AUS), Cristian Becerine (ARG), Roger Rinderknecht (SUI), Rob van den Wildenberg (NED), Manueal de Vecchi (ITA), Damien Godet (FRA), Kamakazi (AUS) comprise the second bracket.



As in Wednesday's quarterfinal, each bracket will run three heats with the lowest-four point getters from each bracket advancing to the finals.



In women's racing, American Jill Kintner (Seattle, Wash.) rode a 37.913 to claim the seventh sees.



After the 16-woman field was divided into a pair of eight-woman brackets for Thursday's semifinals, Kintner will face Shanaze Reade (GBR), Laetitia le Corguille (FRA), Nicole Callisto (AUS), Tanya Bailey (AUS), Lieke Klaus (NED), Maria Belen Dutto (ARG) and Aniko Hodi (HUN) in the first bracket.



Anne-Caroline Chausson (FRA), Sarah Walker (NZL), Gabriela Diaz (ARG), Jana Horakova (CZE), Jenny Fahndrich (SUI), Amanda Sorensen (DEN), Sammy Cools (CAN) and Liyun Ma (CHN) make up the second bracket.