The voice is a little tired but the joy is clearly perceptible on the other end of the line. At the end of a night that we imagine would be short, Matthias Dandois told us his impressions after his 10th flat BMX world champion title won on Saturday in Abu Dhabi. The Ile-de-France resident could not have dreamed of a better ending. “I have no words, it’s incredible to end my career in official competition with a 10th title,” he blurted out straight away.
Third at the end of the semi-finals, Dandois was not the favorite for the final. But he was able to raise his level even further to get the best of the seven other riders present. Antepenultimate to start, Dandois managed a very high level run to take the lead. “I was possessed”, he exults. So much so that he forced his opponents to take risks to try to dethrone him. “I had the chance to go before the Japanese (Yu Shoji et Yu Katagiri, ndlr) because I had qualified third. It allowed me to put pressure on them with a run where I rode really well. It put pressure on them and they completely explodedhe analyzes. It's miraculous, the stars have aligned. Besides, the two Japanese are not even on the podium.”
With a score of 90.67, the new world champion was well ahead of his competitors, the Japanese Moto Sasaki only scoring an 86.83 and Jean William Prevost an 84.00. “It would have been crap to finish even with a silver or bronze medalhe concludes. There, to have the rainbow jersey, the gold medal, the 10th title, I am in 7th heaven!”
F1
France
