Roberts, a three-time world champion at age 19, set the bar in her opening run, landing a backflip with a tailspin for a 96.1. The top seed had a chance to top the Brit, but she landed hard off an early jump and waved off the rest of her second run.
Nikita Ducarroz of Switzerland took bronze with an 89.2 in her second run.
Martin kept the attention of fans on the bridge and the handful of people inside Ariake Urban Sports Park, pulling off a near flawless first run for a 93.3. The 27-year-old watched as the other eight riders tried to catch him and pumped his fist from atop a landing when no one could.
Martin went on a victory lap, flipping his bike in the air and catching it on an early jump, but waved the rest of it off after landing hard on another jump.
Daniel Dhers of Venezuela took silver with a 92.05 on his second run and Declan Brooks of Britain had a second-run 90.8 to earn bronze.
BMX freestyle’s rim-wrecking roots were planted in the flying action-sports carnival of the X Games in the 1990s, and later in offshoots like the Dew Tour and Gravity Games.
BMX racing, freestyle’s cousin, has been in the Olympics since the 2008 Beijing Games. Freestyle continued soaring until it had to be included, too.
Freestyle took a huge leap forward — with a twist, of course — when it came under the umbrella of the Union Cycliste International in 2016, further legitimizing the sport and giving the top riders a place to compete on a World Cup circuit.
The first BMX freestyle championships were held in 2017 — won by Roberts and Martin — and the sport was added to the Olympic program later that year with surfing, sport climbing, 3-on-3 basketball, skateboarding, and karate.
BMX freestyle, also known as BMX park, certainly has the eye appeal to be a big hit with riders flipping, twisting, and spinning their handlebars on a course that’s like an oversized skate park.
The vernacular is pretty rad, too, with ordinary words and phrases that mean something different in the park: superman, truck driver, toboggan.
