May 22/12 12:56 pm - Tory Nyhaug to Miss BMX Worlds, Possible Loss of Canadian Olympic Spot

Posted by Editoress on 05/22/12
 

Today, the Canadian Cycling Association announced that Canada's Tory Nyhaug will miss the BMX world championships, scheduled to start this coming Wednesday in Birmingham, Great Britain, due to injury.

Nyhaug crashed and ruptured his spleen two weeks ago at the UCI BMX Supercross Final, in Papendal, Netherlands.  It is the second injury Nyhaug has suffered to his spleen in recent years.  Reports are that he is out of intensive care, in a Dutch hospital, and the Dutch and Canadian doctors are determing the best course of treatment.  He is expected to recover fully, and to be fit for the Olympic Games in August.  The date for Nyhaug’s release from hospitalization is still undetermined.

“Tory is a very resilient and determined individual, he is an athlete that is targeted for 2016 but if there is any chance he can be ready for August 2012 there is no doubt in my mind that Tory, his family and his team of medical and training experts will pull out all stops to make the summer of 2012 happen for Tory,” said Jacques Landry, High Performance Director at the Canadian Cycling Association.

However, Nyhaug's withdrawal puts Canada in a precarious position for Olympic qualifying.  Canada had been hoping to qualify two spots in the men, based on Nyhaug's past performances this season.  Now, there is a danger that they may not qualify any spots, depending upon the outcome of the Worlds.

Canada is currently in ninth place in the Nations ranking with 1815 points (as of May 15th), with the top 11 getting to send riders to the Olympics.  Italy holds tenth with 1767 points, Argentina 11th at 1722 points and Ecuador 12th at 1654 points.

An Ecuador rider making the Worlds final and an Argentina rider making at least the semi-finals will bump Canada out of the top-11.  One other way that Canada can ensure that it receives enough points to qualify a spot is for Canada's Connor McCormack to make it through the time trial to the heats competition.