Kintner, Day and Robinson Medal for USA in Olympic BMX

In the first ever Olympic BMX competition, USA Cycling riders Jill Kintner, Mike Day and Donny Robinson all stood on the podium at the end of the race, making a strong showing for the US team. All three athletes trained for the Olympics using TrainingPeaks, the official training software of USA Cycling together with an SRM power meter on each bike. TrainingPeaks WKO+ founder Hunter Allen assisted with workout analysis as the USAC BMX Technical Coach. Mike Day took silver just behind race winner Maris Strombergs, while Jill and Donny both brought home the bronze.

"I'm super pumped," Day said. "I felt good all day. Everything kind of was clicking. I had a great start, I was just a little outside of Maris. But silver - I'm psyched."

Success on the 35-foot, steeply sloped starting ramp was crucial. Without a good start, racers couldn't find the best lines going into Turn 1, a tightly banked asphalt bend where mayhem erupted with incredible regularity. That turn saw crashes in eight of the 12 semifinal heats, where racers vying for position inevitably got tangled with one another.

In the men's final, it was essentially a race to that first turn, and Latvian gold medal winner Maris Strombergs made it there the fastest. Day and Robinson ground down on their pedals and chased with all they had, but Strombergs never let up.

On the women's side, Kintner benefited from the chaos created in the first turn. Near the back of the eight-woman pack after a poor start, Kintner kept pumping the whole way, hopeful for a break, which British racer Shanaze Reade provided. Reade, who crashed three times during the Olympics, went down again in the final turn, and Kintner maneuvered around her into third place.

"Talk about stuff flying all over the track everywhere," Kintner said. "People were going for broke, so I was patient, I waited, I avoided all the problems - and there it was."

Kintner, a former world mountaincross champion, came back to BMX only for the pursuit of an Olympic medal, which she wanted in tribute to her father, who died two years ago and was essentially the driving force behind her cycling career as a kid.

"First woman for America, in the first event ever, first medal, it's such a piece of history," Kintner said. "I'm so glad I can represent and be a part of it. Mikey and Donny and me, it's huge for American BMX. Think about it. This'll bring a big boost to our program. It puts us on the map again."

With workout analysis and consultation from Technical Coach Hunter Allen, Kintner, Day and Robinson used TrainingPeaks.com and TrainingPeaks WKO+ in the year leading up to the Games in Beijing to help them fine tune their training to peak just at the right time for the Olympics.