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Alise Willoughby competed at the Paris Olympics in BMX racing on Friday and got sixth place. She grew up in St. Cloud.

Willoughby’s family and friends gathered at Ultimate Sports Bar in Waite Park to cheer her on, along with dozens of other BMX fans.

Her great aunt, Phyllis Post, says she feels a very strong sense of pride and she is proud of the hard work, determination and guts that her niece has.

“She is a total role model for young people. She works hard, she is very compassionate. I’m so happy that she’s been successful and she’s very, very humble,” she said.

Terry Schroeder is the track president of Pineview Park BMX in St. Cloud, where Willoughby first began BMX racing in 1997. He described the process of racing. 

“It’s a wild thing. It’s four straights and three turns. When you’re up there, your heart’s racing, you do whatever you can to try to calm yourself and be ready. You’ve got about 45 seconds from beginning to end and you have to go as fast as you can,” he said.

Ariana Larson, 10, is from St. Joseph. She says crashing is the hardest part. She was sporting a cast at the watch party, but she doesn’t have any plans of slowing down and she hopes to be just like Willoughby.

“I love it, I love to see how far she [Willoughby] has gone, I can’t believe she’s from my home town,” Ariana said.

Willoughby took home a sliver medal from the Rio Games in 2016. She crashed out of the semifinals at the London Games in 2012 and Tokyo Games in 2021.

Ben Hovland

Author

Alise Willoughby competed at the Paris Olympics in BMX racing on Friday and got sixth place. She grew up in St. Cloud.


St. Cloud native Alise Willoughby misses the medal in BMX racing, gets 6th place

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