Freia Challis and Elsa Rendall Todd secured a historic one-two finish for the United Kingdom at the 2026 UCI BMX Racing World Championships in Brisbane. In a competition heavily disrupted by strong winds, Challis claimed the junior women’s world title ahead of her fellow British rider in an edition that also saw Beth Shriever capture a record-breaking fourth elite world title and Ross Cullen take silver in the elite men’s event.
Freia Challis and Elsa Rendall Todd secure a British one-two
The 2026 World Championships concluded under extraordinary circumstances. After the opening day of racing went ahead as scheduled, Sunday’s finals were cancelled due to dangerously strong winds sweeping across the Brisbane track. In accordance with UCI regulations, the final standings were determined using the results from the last completed qualifying stage and the riders’ lap times.
In the junior women’s category, the British riders left no room for doubt. Freia Challis and Elsa Rendall Todd dominated the field from the opening motos, winning both their opening rounds and quarter-finals with authority before the competition was abandoned. Challis’ outstanding lap times earned her the junior world title, while Rendall Todd claimed a well-deserved silver medal after delivering a consistently impressive performance throughout the event.
For Elsa Rendall Todd, the silver medal carried extra significance. Having suffered a crash in training just days before the championships, her participation had remained uncertain until the last moment. Despite that setback, the British rider produced one of the finest performances of her young career when it mattered most.
The order of the two young British talents is no coincidence. Freia Challis has steadily established herself as one of the brightest prospects in British BMX Racing, collecting medals across several junior categories at the sport’s biggest international events. Meanwhile, Elsa Rendall Todd continues to develop at an impressive rate while balancing careers in both BMX Racing and BMX Freestyle. Already a youth world champion in 2023, Rendall Todd also finished fourth at the 2024 European BMX Freestyle Championships, missing the podium by just a few hundredths of a point, before placing seventh at the 2025 Elite European Championships while also securing junior world silver in BMX Racing.
Beyond the junior categories, the British team also left Australia with two medals in the elite events. Beth Shriever made history once again by claiming her fourth world title, becoming the first rider ever to win four elite BMX Racing world championships. Already an Olympic champion and one of the sport’s dominant figures in recent years, Shriever posted the fastest lap times throughout the opening day before severe weather brought the event to an early end. While the British star would undoubtedly have preferred to secure the title through the finals, her performances in qualifying left little doubt over who had been the outstanding rider of the championships.
In the elite men’s competition, Ross Cullen produced the finest world championship performance of his career. Unbeaten throughout the qualifying rounds, he claimed the silver medal and stood on the elite world championship podium for the first time, confirming his continued rise among the leading riders in international BMX Racing.
