PARIS, France — Three French BMX riders pulled off a feat in front of their home crowd not seen in over a century of Olympic competition.
Joris Daudet, Sylvian Andre, and Romain Mahieu finished in the top three spots of the men's BMX racing final on Friday to take gold, silver, and bronze, respectively, for France. The results gave France its first podium sweep in any Olympic event since the last time the country hosted the Summer Olympics in the 1924 Paris Games.
The finish also marked the first podium sweep in a men's cycling event since the 1904 St. Louis Olympics.
Daudet led the historic finish with a time of 31.422 to win his first Olympic medal. Andre and Mahieu finished within six-tenths of a second to take second and third. Switzerland's Butti Cedric finished fourth. The top U.S. finisher was Cameron Wood in fifth.
"It’s an amazing night and being able to do that with my friends, that’s an unreal feeling," Daudet told Olympics.com. "It’s amazing to be able to write history and to put BMX on top.”
The trio led through most of the event and were rarely challenged for the top spots.
France's last podium sweep came in the men's gymnastics side horse vault event in the 1924 Paris Games with a gold and two silver medals.
The last men's cycling podium sweep came in the 1904 St. Louis Games when the United States swept seven track cycling events.
The only other cycling sweep happened when Switzerland swept the women's mountain biking cross-country event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
