Red Deer's Molly Simpson is one step closer to winning a medal at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris.
On Thursday, Simpson was one of the top competitors in the women's BMX Racing quarterfinals finishing fourth overall after three races to qualify for the semifinals.
The first time Olympian took advantage of multiple quick starts of the jump to finish in second, third, and second in all of her races.
The 21-year-old completed her first race in 35.752 seconds, one-hundredths of a second behind Great Britain's Bethany Shriever. In her second run, she kept her momentum finishing third behind first-place Shriever and second-place Zoe Claessens from Switzerland with a time of 35.508.
In her final race of the day, she nearly came in first place with a time of 35.311 but finished behind Australia's Saya Sakakibara.
In total, she finished with seven points to advance to the semifinals.
She'll compete in heat number two in the first run of the semifinals on Friday, which begins at 12:20 mountain time. She'll then race two more times in hopes of qualifying for the finals later that afternoon at 1:50 p.m.
On her Instagram profile @mollysimpsonn44, she posted a story thanking her friends, family, and supporters after moving on to the semifinals.
"Just wanted to come on here and say thanks. It was a good first day and we're moving on to day two," she said. "Thank you for all the stories and mentions. I'm feeling the support and I appreciate all of you. Another day tomorrow! Thanks, guys."
Earlier this season Simpson recorded her best World Cup ranking of her career in sixth place among the elite competition in the women's division.
