Brazil's BMX track suits women but not male heavy hitters of the sport, the back-to-back Olympic champion who made a shock exit before the medal rides has said.
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Maris Strombergs was eyeing off a third consecutive gold medal in Rio. Already Latvia's most successful Olympian and the nation's flag-bearer for these Games, he was primed to become the Usain Bolt of BMX before his third tilt ended abruptly on a crash-littered day of quarter-finals.
The course that begins with an eight-metre drop start was altered significantly and, to the disapproval of some riders, also painted fluorescent green, before 32 male and 16 female entrants completed individual time trails on Wednesday. But defining features were not changed to Strombergs' satisfaction.
The 29-year-old formally lodged concerns with organisers about flaws other riders also picked out after an Olympics test event in March. Strombergs thought the first straight was too short, preventing the extreme sport racers from hitting full speed.
At pains not to blame a course he didn't ever really like for his stunning early elimination, Strombergs said: "I don't want to put anyone under the bus…I talked to them, I suggested a couple of things needed to be changed, they did nothing. Now we can see it is what it is.
"It's a good track for the girls, but for us guys it's not what we train for.
"The first straight, you just can't go full speed. Usually the first straight, we try to go 100 per cent, 110 per cent, whatever we've got. Now it's like we get out of the gate 100 per cent and after the first jump, it's like 80, 90 per cent.
"Even if I raced tomorrow, I don't think much would have changed.
"It's just too kinky, it's just too lippy when you go at full speed. It's so hard to get it perfect, you overshoot it every time, it's just too small...it needed to be mellowed out. It's just a little bit of work, it's really not that much but it makes a big difference.
"Even if it was a little more mellow it would have been fine for girls as well, especially with all the wind, but I'm not trying to complain. When you start blaming the track most of the time the problem is in yourself. Obviously it was possible but it's just not very well suited for my style of racing."
Only one competitor crashed in the individual seeding runs on Wednesday. The contrast, however, was pronounced in the eight-rider-per-heat quarter-finals that, over three rounds, whittled down the men's field on day two.
Hitting the deck hard with two rivals at the first turn of their opening heat, then caught behind a crash in his second run, Strombergs' Olympics hung on his placing in his last race. Lamenting his "three very ugly laps" afterwards, Strombergs initially thought he'd done enough to qualify for Friday's semi-finals that will be followed by a winner-takes-all final medal ride.
Two Aussies through to semi-finals
Two of Australia's three male entrants, Sam Willoughby and Anthony Dean, qualified for the semi-finals with aplomb but Strombergs was not the only big name eliminated through the crash mayhem.
French world champion Joris Daudet failed to make the cut and was nursing a suspected broken elbow after his fall in a separate heat.
Britain's Liam Phillips, who many tipped would challenge Daudet and Strombergs in the fight for medals, crashed in his opening run and could not ride again. He slid off an embankment and, after a stretcher was called, his Olympics were cactus.
Willoughby, the silver medallist behind Strombergs in London four years ago, led from the front and won all three of his heats, so should enter the final rounds here with confidence soaring.
"If I came here and went out in the first round that would be more than disappointing, so it's not even close to job done," he said.
"It's always the key (to get in front early) but especially today when it's windy like this, it was carnage out there.
"I feel I ran about 90 per cent today and ticked off clean laps and that's what today was about. But I'm going to have to go quicker than that to get the job done tomorrow."
Willoughby's fastest time was 35.130 seconds. His clean-sweep was peerless in the other three heat groups though compatriot Dean recorded the fastest time for the day with 34.994 seconds.
With Caroline Buchanan and Lauren Reynolds automatically qualified in a women's field half the size of the men's, Bodi Turner is the only member of Australia's five member team who has been eliminated.
