USA Cycling announced in a press release Tuesday the five athletes that have been selected for the Paris 2024 Olympics in BMX Racing. After two years of qualifying competition, it came down to the final few races in May of 2024 to determine the points for individual nominations and team quotas.
The U.S. will be only one of three teams to send a full five-member team to Paris. Two men and three women will represent Team USA in Paris. They include Cameron Wood (Bozeman, Mont.), Kamren Larsen (Bakersfield, Calif.) for the men and Alise Willoughby (St. Cloud, Minn.), Daleny Vaughn (Tucson, Ariz.) and Felicia Stancil (Lake Villa, Ill.) for the women. Willoughby and Stancil are the only two to have previously made the Olympics as the rest of the team will make their debut in Paris.
It has not been an easy journey for the 22-year-old Wood, but his resiliency earned him a spot. Wood won his first USA BMX race at 19-years-old in his first full season racing in the pro category, landed on several USA BMX podiums, and made the Elite World Championships final, finishing eighth in the world. He has been on the rise ever since but has suffered from several injuries along the way. After re-injuring his shoulder earlier this year, he came back determined to earn his spot on the Paris 2024 Olympic Team and is eager to achieve a good result this summer.
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“Blessed, honored, and proud is understatement after being named to the 2024 US Olympic Team in Paris,” Wood said in the press release. “There has been several challenges and a lot of adversity faced during the qualifying process. It feels rewarding to have faced those challenges head on, grow as an athlete and person, and ultimately earn my way in. It has been a dream of mine for a long time to represent my country in the Olympics and give it my all. I couldn’t be more thankful and appreciative for all of the people that have supported my journey and helped get me to this point. Let’s go.”
Wood finished atop the points table accrued during qualifying events for the U.S., but still had to wait for the team to be officially selected.
The Paris 2024 Olympic BMX Racing events begin on August 1 with three rounds of quarterfinals and a Last Chance Qualifier race. Racing concludes the next day, August 2, with three rounds of semifinals, and one final lap to crown Olympic champions in the main event. Watch all the cycling events live on Peacock.
BMX Racing debuted as an event in 2008 at the Beijing Olympics.
Wood will join Ivan Roe (Manhattan, Shooting) and Nicole Heavirland (Whitefish, women’s rugby alternate) as Montanans currently scheduled to take part in the Games in Paris.
