Saya Sakakibara wins third consecutive World Cup crown

Three-peat status landed for Saya Sakakibara in the UCI BMX Racing World Cup following a dominant season-ending weekend in Argentina.

The 26-year-old New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) scholarship holder claimed back-to-back wins in Santiago del Estero, with the first during Saturday’s Round 5 breaking the shackles of what had been a winless season through the opening four rounds.

With the taste for the top step back on the menu, Australia’s Olympic champion returned even better on Sunday for the season finale, delivering a runaway final win by more than a second to end an undefeated day.

Post-race, Sakakibara said she’d honed in on achieving a third successive World Cup crown as motivation after winning silver at the 2025 UCI BMX Racing World Championships seven weeks ago.

“It means so much, it really does,” Sakakibara said. “After the World Championships I knew that I was going to come here and do exactly what I did this weekend. I really wanted to go for that (title) three years in a row. I know Laura Smulders had done it so I wanted to match that record.”

The weekend sweep also continues Sakakibara’s command over the Argentinian track since 2023, taking her round wins to five out of six – and that one blip was still a second-place result.
“I really love this track … I’ve had really good memories (here) and I was able to pull it off,” she said. “I think I just wanted it the most. I think that’s just as simple as that.

“I think I struggled a little bit through the first half of the season where I won that gold medal last year and I didn’t really know what was driving me this season.

“But this weekend, I knew I wanted to win.”

Sakakibara finishes the season 537 points to the good ahead of Laura Smulders.

Teenage rising star Teya Rufus was the only other Aussie to compete in Argentina and made it a worthwhile trip, producing her best World Cup weekend of the year.

Rufus finished fifth in Round 5 and sixth in Round 6 to move herself into eighth in the final points standings.

Story: Josh Davies

Feature picture: Craig Dutton/UCI