Molly Simpson made Red Deer proud at the 2024 Olympic Summer Games in Paris.
The 21-year-old made it to the BMX racing finals on Friday and finished fifth among the top women in the sport from across the world.
The first-time Olympian was right in the mix in the finals and finished in 35.833 seconds, which was 1.602 seconds behind gold medallist Saya Sakakbara from Australia.
Manon Veenstra from the Netherlands finished with the silver medal and Switzerland's Zoe Claessens will take home the bronze.
Earlier in the afternoon, Canada's only BMX racer qualified for the finals after placing seventh overall in the semifinals after three races, which was the second last spot to qualify.
She placed second in the first race in 35.599 seconds followed by a fourth-place finish (35.953) in her second race and fifth (36.349) in the last run of the semis.
On Thursday, on her first day of racing, she qualified for the semifinals after placing fourth overall in the quarterfinals.
Simpson was selected to represent her country based on her performances at the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) World Cups and World Championships in 2023 and 2024.
In 2023, Simpson earned a silver medal at the Pan Am Games which was her first major Games experience. She competed in all six World Cup events this season and placed sixth overall in the World Cup standings.
Simpson began riding at 10 years old at the Red Deer BMX Race Club and was also named to the Canadian development team at just 14 years old.
