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Jessie Smith, newest Māori BMX world champ

A Ngāti Kahungunu and Ngāpuhi BMX racer has won the World Junior Championship BMX competition in Belgium.

18-year-old Jessie Smith, who moved to Hamilton from Gisborne to follow her BMX dream, became the first New Zealander to win the junior women's world title yesterday, overtaking Argentina's Agustina Cavalli on the home stretch in the final.

“Honestly I just can’t believe it, it’s crazy!  I had a plan to go to Europe.  It was a bit of a gamble because I was only selected for the worlds a month ago.  I am so happy it paid off," says Smith.

“The corners were slippery but you had to take it a bit easier.  I didn’t really change my approach though.  I rely on my track speed a lot.  Sometimes I have jumped the first big jump but coming into today knowing my track speed was quite good, I relied on that and managed a [personal best].”

It was a great result for Smith, who moves up to the Elite ranks at the end of this year and now has an eye on Olympic qualification ahead of the Tokyo Olympics next year.

She will return home later this week, before heading off to China in August for an Olympic qualifying event.

There are two more UCI Supercross World Cup meets in USA and Argentina, before an Olympic test event in Tokyo later this year.