{"id":52246,"date":"2026-07-17T01:45:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T01:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/52246\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T01:45:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T01:45:09","slug":"lauren-reynolds-embraces-motherhood-at-home-uci-bmx-racing-world-championships-in-brisbane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/52246\/","title":{"rendered":"Lauren Reynolds embraces motherhood at home UCI BMX Racing World Championships in Brisbane"},"content":{"rendered":"

The opportunity to compete at a home World Championship is always special.<\/p>\n

For Australian BMX racer Lauren Reynolds, this one might be doubly so.<\/p>\n

The 35-year-old four-time Olympian will, for the first time in her career, take on the challenge of a world championship as a mother to eight-month-old Royce.<\/p>\n

“I didn’t know or ever think I would have a child at a BMX track,” Reynolds tells ABC Sport on the sidelines of the Sleeman Sport complex track, which will host the UCI BMX Racing World Championships on Saturday, July 18 and Sunday, July 19.<\/p>\n

“And to have her at the worlds, and a home worlds, is just really, really cool.<\/p>\n

\"Lauren<\/p>\n

Lauren Reynolds’s baby, Royce, is eight months old and on her first trip to Australia. (Supplied: Instagram\/@laurenreynolds)<\/p>\n

“She’s a great little girl,” Reynolds continues, her face lighting up in a smile.<\/p>\n

“She makes me laugh every day, and it’s going to be cool to have her on the sidelines.”<\/p>\n

Given the occasionally rough and tumble nature of BMX racing, it is perhaps not a surprise that mothers have been few and far between in the racing paddock.<\/p>\n

Yet Reynolds, whose wife Ryan carried Royce, is one of three racers who now have a baby in tow.<\/p>\n

American Alise Willoughby, a three-time world champion and Olympic silver medallist, and wife of Australian former world champion Sam Willoughby<\/a>, was trackside with a pram, watching training alongside Sam, who now works with the Japanese team.<\/p>\n

How an accident brought down Sam Willoughby, and the love of his wife raised him back up<\/a><\/p>\n

Sam and Alise Willoughby’s sporting fairytale romance takes a tragic twist, with the strength of their love proving that no matter the obstacle, no setback is too big.<\/p>\n

Colombian legend Mariana Paj\u00f3n, a six-time World Champion and two-time Olympic Games gold medallist, also gave birth last year.<\/p>\n

“A lot of the guys are dads, but no, there hasn’t been [a lot of mums],” Reynolds said.<\/p>\n

“My wife carried our baby, but they were all pregnant and gave birth around the same time, and there was no planning, no communication there, so it’s very cool.”<\/p>\n

Cool, of course, but it has certainly been a change.<\/p>\n

“I mean, life is completely different,” Reynolds says.<\/p>\n

“It’s the same, but also completely different.<\/p>\n

“A different perspective, different priorities in a sense, I’ve still got work to do, but coming home healthy and coming home to a little girl is precious.<\/p>\n

“It takes away the worries and, whatever happens out here, stays there, and I go home to her.”<\/p>\n

\"Lauren<\/p>\n

Nobody is getting confused as to who Royce’s mum is. (Supplied: Instagram\/@laurenreynolds)<\/p>\n

These world championships present the first opportunity for young Royce to visit Australia \u2014 Reynolds lives in San Diego these days \u2014 and a first meeting for her grandparents.<\/p>\n

But the Sleeman track is one that Reynolds knows incredibly well, having spent hours training in Brisbane as a teenager, and it still feels like home.<\/p>\n

“It’s very cool to come back,” Reynolds says, looking out over the venue that will be used for the 2032 Summer Olympics, a new temporary grandstand over on the finishing straight that come this weekend will be packed with green and gold-clad supporters.<\/p>\n

“I used to live and train out here for years \u2026 so tons of memories.<\/p>\n

“And I think now I’m just older and wiser, and I look at it differently.<\/p>\n

“It’s even better. It’s refreshing. It’s really cool to come back. I mean, Australia is always home, but I’ve built a life in San Diego, and I love it, but I love coming back. Having a home worlds is incredible, very cool, and I’m excited.”<\/p>\n

Jolly targeting revenge on new home track\"Josh<\/p>\n

Josh Jolly won silver by less than a second last year in Copenhagen. Now he’s striving for gold in Brisbane. (Supplied: AusCycling)<\/p>\n

Another rider who is desperately eager to compete on the world stage in front of friends and family is Josh Jolly.<\/p>\n

The 20-year-old from Ballarat already has an incredible pedigree in the sport.<\/p>\n

Two years ago, Jolly claimed the junior world championship title in South Carolina.<\/p>\n

Then, last year, he came desperately close to winning the Under 23 title last year in Copenhagen.<\/p>\n

Jolly, then aged 19, was leading through the first half of the race at the K\u00f8benhavns BMX Klub only to be overhauled by 23-year-old Frenchman Alexis Pieczanowsky.<\/p>\n

He was one of three Aussies to win silver at last year’s championships, with 2024 Olympic champion Saya Sakakibara<\/a> and Queenslander Izaac Kennedy both finishing second in the elite races behind Britain’s Beth Shriever and Frenchman Arthur Pilard respectively.<\/p>\n

\"Josh<\/p>\n

Josh Jolly is hoping for a passionate crowd in Brisbane. (Supplied: AusCycling)<\/p>\n

“I was pretty heartbroken last year,” Jolly tells ABC Sport.<\/p>\n

“I was leading the first half of the race and then made a mistake by myself and lost the rainbow jersey.<\/p>\n

“That’s definitely fuelled the training, fuelled my racing, and it’s definitely made me a lot smarter.<\/p>\n

“It’s made me really want to do well in front of a home crowd and finally get the job done here this year.”<\/p>\n

Jolly, whose family moved from Ballarat to Brisbane earlier this year to help his career progress, has spent the last 12 months dreaming of redemption on home soil.<\/p>\n

“I could honestly say for the last 12 months, every day I’ve thought about this race and what I want to do,” he says, the conviction in his voice stirring and reassuring in equal measure.<\/p>\n

“This whole sport, if you don’t believe that you’re going to do it, you won’t do it.<\/p>\n

“Every night before I go to bed, I’m visualising the race that I want to ride.<\/p>\n

“Ever since last year, I’ve just put my eyes on this event, and yeah, it’s time to get it done.”<\/p>\n

Age is just a number\"Lauren<\/p>\n

Lauren Reynolds is embracing her experience. (Supplied: AusCycling)<\/p>\n

As a 35-year-old, Reynolds is one of the more experienced racers in the competition, winning a silver medal at the world championships 13 years ago behind fellow Aussie Caroline Buchanan in Auckland.<\/p>\n

And yet despite perceptions that BMX is a young-persons’ sport, Reynolds is bucking the trend spectacularly, arguably riding some of her best races six years after being dropped from the Cycling Australia elite program in 2017.<\/p>\n

At the last World Cup event in Papendal last month, just four female riders in their 30s took to the start ramp.<\/p>\n

Three of them, including Reynolds, finished in the top seven.<\/p>\n

“I definitely lean into it now, and I didn’t before,” Reynolds says.<\/p>\n

“I think, for a long time, I would kind of like ignore it and I denied it, thinking, ‘no, I’m young and I’m\u2026’, and it goes through waves.<\/p>\n

“Don’t get me wrong, the young crop is hungry, they’re fast, they’re energetic. They eat, sleep, breathe, BMX, and I absolutely did that too.<\/p>\n

\"Lauren<\/p>\n

Lauren Reynolds finished fifth and sixth at the recent World Cup event in Papendal. (Supplied: AusCycling)<\/p>\n

“But I totally lean into my age now, and I embrace it. I see it as a positive now.<\/p>\n

“I’m enjoying it. I know that I don’t have long left in my career. But I’m still delivering, and I seem to be finding improvements each time, so that keeps me hungry.<\/p>\n

“It’s funny, a couple of days before I flew here, I got my PB at my local track to the first jump, and it was a day before my 35th birthday, and I came home from training on Wednesday, and I was like, ‘Holy s***, I’m 35 tomorrow, and I just got a PB’.<\/p>\n

ABC Sport Daily podcast<\/a><\/p>\n

ABC Sport Daily is your daily sports conversation. We dive into the biggest story of the day and get you up to speed with everything else that’s making headlines.<\/p>\n

“It’s pretty cool. I mean, I can laugh about it, and it’s fun. I know age will eventually get me, but right now I’m just enjoying it, and I adapt.<\/p>\n

“I probably don’t train as much as the young ones, but I adapt a little and adjust things, and I’m still thriving, I think.”<\/p>\n

With another Olympics just two years away, an Olympics taking place just up the road from her second home in California, Reynolds is not ruling anything out.<\/p>\n

“As of right now, it’s there [the Olympics] and nothing’s off or on the table.<\/p>\n

“For every four Olympics I’ve been to, it’s always been like this Olympics, this Olympics, this Olympics.<\/p>\n

“Now I’m focused on next week, and then I’m focused on Utah two weeks after that, where I’m racing and I’m not thinking of going to an Olympics or not.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The opportunity to compete at a home World Championship is always special. For Australian BMX racer Lauren Reynolds,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":52247,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[37368,37369,37374,99,37373,37371,37372,37370,31565],"class_list":["post-52246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brisbane","tag-bmx","tag-bmx-racing","tag-bmx-world-championships","tag-brisbane","tag-josh-jolly","tag-lauren-reynolds","tag-saya-sakakibara","tag-uci","tag-world-championships"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}