SAYA Sakakibara knows it is special she will compete at the same UCI BMX Supercross World Cup event in Bathurst this weekend as her brother Kai, but the siblings are also daring to dream of another, bigger shared experience.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
They would love to compete together as Australian team-mates at the Olympic Games.
While 20-year-old Saya Sakakibara is a strong chance to earn one of the two expected spots for female BMX riders come the Tokyo Olympics later this year, at this stage Australia may only send one male competitor.
It means the Sakakibara siblings need a strong results not just in Bathurst this weekend, but across the remainder of the 2020 World Cup events to be a chance of making their Olympic ambition come to fruition.
"Yeah, obviously it is our goal," Saya said.
"We've talked about it a little bit, but it's not like our main conversation point.
"We are just focused on the day-to-day tasks that need to get done and perform at these World Cups firstly, step by step and see where it takes us.
"We're both going through the same experiences together, we've done two full seasons of the World Cup together now. We're both aiming for the same thing, we're there to support each other but also do well for ourselves individually.
"It's really, really cool, everything we get to do together is sick and it would be cool to one day get some good results together."
Last weekend when Shepparton hosted the first two rounds of the World Cup, Saya won silver on Saturday and after tangling with current world champion Alise Willoughby on the first berm of Sunday's final, recovered to place fourth.
Her 23-year-old brother Kai did it tougher as he ranked 28th in round one and 16th in round two.
"A bit of a rough weekend for me, finishing Saturday in the 1/8th final, and then coming unstuck in the semi final [Sunday]," he said.
"It is a little bit of a disappointing weekend knowing how good I have been going. My biggest upset is not being able to replicate what I have been doing in training. But I am happy with where I am heading and I am really looking forward to the next two rounds in Bathurst."
When it comes to the Bathurst track, the Sakakibaras have plenty of experience as they have been attending race meetings there since the facility opened in 2016.
They have also trained there since the layout was revamped and Saya hopes it will work in their favour.
"When we go to France, all the French are really good there, when got to the Netherlands all the Dutch riders go really good. So it's really cool to finally have a race in Australia," she said.
"I think the changes have opened up the track more, for more passing opportunities, there's bits of tracks that are wider.
"From the last layout, for the girls and the amateurs, it made the track way shorter as well and faster.
"It's pretty cool, I definitely like the changes, it will make for good racing."
Racing at the Bathurst BMX track commences 8am Saturday and 8.30am Sunday.
