Sport

US ace in race to make BMX Champs

18 June 2010

Pietermaritzburg World Cup 2009 winner Donny Robinson may still be recovering from major injuries suffered in two crashes over the past couple of months, but it looks like he will be ready to race at the 2010 UCI BMX World Championships, which start at the Royal Showgrounds in the KwaZulu-Natal capital on 29 July.

Robinson, the 2009 World Championship winner in Australia and Olympic bronze medalist in Beijing in 2008, suffered a horrific crash at this season's first World Cup event in Madrid in April.

The crash, in the first qualifying round, resulted in a collapsed lung for the American, who ended 2009 ranked third in the World Cup series.

Copenhagen

While that sort of injury means a long layoff for most sportsmen, injury is something BMX riders learn to live with and the American was keen to get back on the bike in time for the second round of the World Cup in Copenhagen.

"My comeback started semi-slowly," Robinson wrote on his website a couple of weeks after the crash. "But with only four weeks in between the Madrid and Denmark World Cup events, I had to push it a bit. I headed down to the Olympic Training Centre to work with the team for a week before we headed over to Denmark.

"A doctor told me everything looked pretty good with my health, but he wanted to get a few more tests done before he officially released me to ride.

"Feeling good, and only having seven days of riding before our trip (to Copenhagen), I headed out to the BMX track that day … all I had to do was not crash.

Crash

"On my first lap, I was following a New Zealander and he happened to cross over the track in front of me, causing me to crash on my already injured side.

"I was taken straight to the hospital where they told me I had re-collapsed my lung and broke or displaced three ribs."

Robinson had to miss the Copenhagen leg of the World Cup, but had plenty of time to plan the rest of his season on the nine-hour drive home because medical staff would not let him fly.

Due to the injuries, Robinson has modified his plans and the World Championships is going to be his short-term goal. After that, he will then concentrate on qualifying for the 2012 Olympics.

Playing it safe

"I've decided to play it safe this time and not risk missing the World Championships in late July," said Robinson last week.

"I am feeling a lot better now and have been back riding and training and I plan my first race back to be in Salt Lake City over the July 4th weekend.

"Then I will be focusing on getting in peak physical condition for the undoubtedly hard road to the London Olympics."

The World Championships offers the biggest haul of Olympic qualifying points this year, which should guarantee the strongest possible field in Pietermaritzburg, including Robinson.

Massive drawcard

Robinson will be a massive drawcard at the World Champs for a host of reasons. The stocky America has a string of wins to his name, over and above the hundreds of times he has finished first in various races around the world.

In 2007, he was the first winner of the inaugural US Men's Elite Pro title and as a junior in 2001 was the first person to hold both the Junior Men and Junior Cruiser World titles in the same year.

He repeated a unique double in 2006 when he won both the Supercross World Cup title and Elite Men's Cruiser World Championship.

Aspirations

The defending champion, who was a top-level gymnast before becoming a professional BMX rider, is a talented musician and actor and has aspirations to be a Broadway theatre actor/dancer/singer once his BMX career ends.

He has also toured with his wife Tiffany, performing at schools and fairgrounds around the USA. As a devout Christian Robinson also commits himself to community work when he is not racing.

Believe it not, Robinson is aerophobic, but his fear of flying obviously fades when he gets on the starting ramp at a BMX race and takes off from some of the biggest jumps on the world circuit – a fact that is highlighted by a list of injuries that would have made Evel Knievel sit up and take notice.

Previous injuries

Before his collapsed lungs and broken ribs in 2010, Robinson's injuries included a broken thumb in 1997, bruised ribs in 1999 and then a separated ACL in his shoulder, dislocated wrist and broken thumb in 2002.

The UCI BMX World Championships takes place at the Royal Showgrounds in Pietermaritzburg from 29 July to 1 August.

SAinfo reporter