Injury will not hold back BMX freestyler Logan Martin as he prepares to defend his Olympic title in Paris

A foot injury in May and there was some doubt over whether BMX freestyler Logan Martin would defend the gold medal he won in Tokyo. He would miss the final at an important qualifier. But the cautious approach has paid dividends.

Olympic champion Logan Martin is confident he will be at his best in Paris after rehabbing a foot injury that cost him a platinum performance at the recent qualifying event in Hungary.

Martin, who won the inaugural BMX freestyle title in Tokyo three years ago failed to make the final at the recent Olympic Qualifier Series (OQS) event in Hungary, having to rely on the continental quota spot for Oceania to ensure he could be in Paris to defend his title.

The Gold Coaster suffered a foot injury the week before the opening OQS event in Shanghai in May, suffering bone bruising and tearing ligaments in his big toe.

Logan Martin has booked his ticket to Paris. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images

“One week before China I injured my foot, flew to China and came second at that event but then when I got back from China, I had two weeks off to let my foot heal for the pure fact of just getting to Paris without a sore foot,” Martin said.

“If I didn’t have to have that time off leading into Hungary, then I would still have a sore foot at Hungary and in Paris, so I sacrificed the Hungary event a little bit, knowing that I was sort of in a good position to qualify.”

Martin failed to land the same trick – a 270-whip – on both runs in Budapest, leaving him short of the final and an automatic qualifying place in Paris.

“That event was unfortunate but that was purely because I had a bit of time off leading into that event,” he said.

Fully recovered now, Martin showed off some of his moves at the indoor training facility on the Gold Coast where he is putting the finishing touches on some new tricks likely to be revealed at the La Concorde venue in the middle of Paris.

Logan Martin doing his stuff

And he remains the man to beat at the Games.

“I definitely have a few (new) things that I can plan to step up in that second run,” he said.

“I’ll play it based off how I feel when I get to get to Paris but I do plan to do one of my new tricks in my first run if all is feeling well and I feel good.

“But I’ve been doing my new tricks and all my old tricks every day and it’s all feeling really good so I’m really confident and comfortable with the tricks that I that I have been doing.”

After a sterile experience in Tokyo, Martin will have his young family watching on in Paris, with son Noah, 5, daughter Luna, 2, and wife Kimberly cheering him on.

Martin was among six BMX and mountain bike athletes named to the Australian Olympic team on Friday, completing the 25-strong cycling team for Paris.

Martin and Tokyo Olympic top-five finisher Natalya Diehm return for their second Games in BMX freestyle, while Lauren Reynolds, Tokyo Olympian Saya Sakakibara and Olympic debutant Izaac Kennedy complete the BMX racing team.

Mountain Bike Cross Country rider Rebecca Henderson will compete at her fifth Games, as will Reynolds, the pair joining Olympic gold medallist and Australian team chef de mission Anna Meares as the only female Australian cyclists to compete at four Olympics.

Sakakibara, who crashed out in the semi-finals in Tokyo in a scary incident, heads to Paris as a world champion after an incredible 2023/24 season in which she collected four gold and two silver medals from the six BMX Racing World Cup events.

“I am overwhelmed with feelings of gratitude,” the 24-year-old said.

“I am grateful for the people around me, who helped me pick up the pieces from the last Games and carry on to this one.

“To be given a second opportunity to compete at an Olympic Games is truly gratifying. Getting to this point is already a big achievement but the job isn’t done yet.“