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NSWIS BMX Rider ‘Oli’ Moran selected for World Championships

New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) scholarship athlete Oliver ‘Oli’ Moran is among the next generation of Aussie BMXers who’ll step onto the world stage this August, with eight junior and under-23 athletes selected for the UCI BMX Racing World Championships in Glasgow.

Since moving to France, Moran (pictured above) has posted impressive results against some of the world’s best riders. Among the 21-year-old’s most recent highlights was his podium finish in the opening European Cup round in Verona.

A proud product of Forster on the NSW North Coast, Moran will be joined in the under-23 men’s team by Jesse Asmus, the reigning national and Oceania champion and current leader of the AusCycling BMX Racing National Series.

The team’s third member, South Australia’s Matthew Tidswell, earned his berth after pushing Asmus every step of the way as he finished second to him in both championships.

Meanwhile, first-year riders Noah Elton – another NSWIS athlete – and Joshua Jolly will represent Australia in the Junior Men’s team in Scotland after an excellent start to the season, including gold and bronze respectively at the Oceania Championships.

The two will be joined in the junior men’s category by nine-time World Challenge winner, Tommy Tucker.

After proving to be one of Australia’s best young riders over the past 18 months, Teya Rufus will wear the green-and-gold in the junior women’s championship. The Queenslander won the 16 Girls National Championship last year and has started brightly at junior level, winning silver at the Oceania titles.

Alongside her will be Sienna Pal, an NSWIS athlete from the NSW Central Coast who has bounced back from a knee reconstruction with a string of top performances, including bronze at Oceanias.

“These riders have stepped up to show that they are ready to take on the world,” said Luke Madill, Deputy Chef de Mission for the Australian Cycling Team. “As we’ve seen before, if they can go over there and ride like they do here, with the potential they’ve got, we’re always a strong chance to be in that top eight,”

“And, as we know with BMX, anything can happen once you get to that final.

“Out of the riders we’ve selected, all of them have the potential to be there at the end of the day. We don’t want to put any more pressure on them, but I feel we’ve got a really strong team this year, as the selections were tough with the current depth of riders we have in Australia.”

The team was chosen in accordance with AusCycling’s selection policies.

This year’s BMX Racing Worlds will be held in Glasgow, Scotland as part of the UCI Cycling World Championships. Australia’s elite squad will be selected later this year.

Australian Cycling Team – 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships

U23 Men – BMX Racing