Olympic Silver-medal winning BMX racer
Sarah Walker was born in Whakatane
Sarah started her Olympic career in
Beijing at the 2008 Summer Olympics, in the
Women's BMX. In the medals race, she ran a
time of 38.805, finishing 4th. In the same
event at the 2012 Summer Olympics she got a
silver medal, with a time of 38.644.
Walker has won a total of twelve New
Zealand 20" titles from 1999 to 2011. On 25
July 2009, Walker won the BMX World
Championship in Adelaide, Australia in both
the Elite Women and the Elite Cruiser Women
events.
At the 2010 BMX
World Championship in Pietermaritzburg,
South Africa, Walker finished second in the
Elite Women's event, with first place going
to Shanaze Reade. A crash during the Elite
Cruiser event meant that Walker was not able
hold onto her 2009 championship title.
In 2011, Walker made the podium in three out
of four World Cup Events to win the Overall
World Cup Title, winning the Papendal
Supercross in Holland, 2nd at the Test Event
in London and 3rd in South Africa. The
fourth event was in USA where she finished
6th. At the 2012 Supercross in Norway,
Walker dislocated her shoulder which almost
put her out of contention for the Olympics
in London. After 6 weeks, she had to qualify
for the Olympics at the World Championships
in Birmingham, England where she did so with
a 5th in the semi final, then going on to
win the silver medal in her event. As well
as competing in BMX events around the world,
Walker has also been a sports ambassador for
Beef + Lamb New Zealand since 2008. She is a
sponsored rider for Avanti Bikes, using
their line of ABD BMX bikes when racing.
