American Marcus Christopher won his first World Championships medal in BMX freestyle — silver — one year after missing an Olympic medal by one spot.
Christopher, a 22-year-old from Canton, Ohio, finished runner-up to Anthony Jeanjean of France at worlds in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday.
Christopher also placed just behind Jeanjean at the Paris Olympics — 65 hundredths of a point behind in fourth place.
Christopher had come back from a 2023 X Games crash where he broke his jaw and cheekbone, needing four plates, 16 screws and a liquid-only diet for four weeks.
Christopher then won the X Games in 2024 and placed second at the event this past June behind countryman Justin Dowell.
An American man has won a BMX freestyle medal at all eight editions of worlds since the event’s debut in 2017. The event debuted at the Olympics at the Tokyo Games.
An American woman won all seven previous world titles in BMX freestyle, with Hannah Roberts taking six of those. But no American woman won a medal in Riyadh, with Roberts placing 10th.
Chinese riders swept the women’s podium, led by Sun Sibei. China’s Deng Yawen, the Paris Olympic gold medalist, wasn’t in the Riyadh field.
