Caroline Buchanan Interview: Back to Back World Championships

Q. Caroline, congratulations on your Four Cross World Championship! Can you talk to us about your emotions as you crossed the line?

A. I was sooo happy when I crossed the line but it wasn't until I saw the excitement in all the Aussies and everyone around me at the finish's faces that it sunk in that it was World Championships and not just any other race.

Q. Winning back to back World Championships is a fantastic effort, did you find it harder to win this year being the defending champion?

A. I found that I had less pressure this year being the defending champion than I did at Stromlo Forest Park Canberra where I was the local hometown favourite and never won a world title.

Q. Just how important was it to get a good start out of the gate?

A. On this track it was very important and my BMX gate starts gave me a good advantage. The track was quite technical with lots of lines but once you were in front and could ride your own race and stay out of trouble it was a lot easier.

Q. Being the fastest in qualifying, were you confident you could get a good result?

A. I qualified in first position by one and half seconds in front of Fionn Grifiths (GBR). I have only ever time trailed 1st before and it was at a world cup this year and I have never had a winning margin like that so I knew that with a great start and no mechanicals the world title was mine.

Q. You seem to dominate in the warmer conditions and when racing under lights, is this something you have practiced or does the night racing help you to focus differently?

A. I always rise to the occasion and perform well under pressure. Having racing at night under lights adds more atmosphere.Give me a couple of thousand people, great atmosphere and pressure to perform its game on.

Q. With last year's World Championships on home soil, did many of your friends & family get the chance to see you race in Canada?

A. I could easily say that mum had half the neighbourhood and friends around to watch me on Freecaster and the whole of Canberra would have known the day after. It was nice to have their support in Canberra last year but I felt their support just as much from the other side of the world.

Q. After your freakish accident at BMX Worlds in South Africa, does this win help erase those memories?

A. Cheers for bringing that back up...no it has definitely helped.. .the majority of my drive for the MTB World Titles was from what happened at BMX World Championships.

Q. How do you pick yourself up and get motivated again after something like that happens?

A. I think every athlete needs the hard times and to lose titles every now and again to stay on track and not get complacent. I was more motivated after what happened.

Q. Thanks to people like yourself & Cadel Evans previously, mountain biking is growing in popularity in Australia. Can you describe how Four Cross works for the uninitiated?

A. Four cross is a mixture of BMX racing and Downhill Mountain biking. First up everyone does a time trial to seed the riders and determine the even spread of riders in the heats. There are 4 riders on the track at one time with the top 2 riders progressing to the next round. For example at World Championships we had 18 girls so after time trials 16 girls qualified to the Quarter Finals and the top in in each race progressed to the Semi Final and then the top 2 from the Semi Final progressed to the Final where the top 4 girls go head to head down roughly a 400m course taking about 45seconds.

Q. What's coming up for you? How hopeful are you of going to the London Olympics?

A. I am now back on the BMX bike until the 2012 London Olympic Games. This coming weekend I have a BMX World Cup in San Diego CA then the final round of the BMX World Cup series in Frejus France. I am currently one of the points earners for Australia and if we continue our great results we are getting at the moment we are definitely on track to take 2 girls and 3 guys to the games.

And finally...

Q. If you could choose between seeing into the future and the power to read minds, what would you choose and why??!

A. Read peoples mind so that I could not waste time waiting on a no response from sponsors etc.

To follow Caroline on her journey to London 2012, visit her website carolinebuchanan.com or join her Facebook page here.