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PARIS — Hannah Roberts’ bid for an Olympic medal came up short Wednesday in Paris, France.

The 22-year-old Buchanan native, a five-time World Champion aiming to win gold in BMX Freestyle at the Paris Olympics following a silver medal performance in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, fell short of an Olympic medal Wednesday. Deng Yawen of China won gold with a score of 92.6 and American Perris Benegas earned a Silver medal with 90.70 while Natalya Diehm of Australia earned Bronze with 88.80.

The top qualifier entering Wednesday, Roberts started her first run strong but was unable to land her final front flip and finished with a score of 70.00. Needing to best Yawen’s score of 92.6 in her second run to win gold, Roberts final run ended in seconds after she was not able to cleanly land her first jump and put her foot down on a landing.

“To have that run cut short, that second one was just tough,” said Rich Hoppe, family friend and owner of Slam City Skate Park in Fort Wayne, Indiana. “Just tapping a toe on this level of competition ends it for you. It was tough to have her come out without a metal or anything; it’s really difficult to process right now but I think overall the showing we had here was incredible for 7 a.m. and it’s a scorching hot day already. Everyone has come out and everyone’s stoked and I think everyone is still a massive Hannah Roberts fan.”

Roberts began riding at age 9, following in the footsteps of her cousin Brett Banasiewicz. She graduated from Buchanan High School in 2019 and has mentored many young riders. According to Hoppe, Roberts’ exploits have grown the sport worldwide.

“The Chinese riders were not here three years ago,” he said. “They’ve come to this level in that short of time and that’s because of Hannah, so if that doesn’t say something I can’t tell you what does. “She’s going to continue to pioneer and push the sport.”

READ: Friends, families support Hannah Roberts with Olympics watch party