With Olympic gold already in his back pocket, BMX freestyler Logan Martin had a final trick up his sleeve for the small crowd of spectators at Tokyo’s Ariake Urban Park.
In the opening seconds of his second run, Martin launched off the central tabletop ramp, threw his bike forward and flipped it on its axis, his body lingering horizontally in the air, momentarily defying gravity.
The audience collectively held their breath and an age seemed to pass between the moment Martin let go of his bike and when he reconnected with the handlebars to land on the other side of the ramp. It was the defining trick of a gold-medal performance by the Australian in BMX freestyle’s debut at the Olympics.