TENTH place in the men’s seeding run Wednesday at Olympic BMX Centre was just fine for Burnham-on-Sea racer Liam Phillips, writes Joe Rexrode with the USA Today Sports Network in Rio.

For one thing, the primary objective to get used to the track – fast as it is, with swirling winds that have changed each day this week – and for another, Phillips probably shouldn’t be here. He broke his left collarbone eight weeks ago, about 10 weeks after breaking his right collarbone.

“Absolute testament to the guys I work with, really, just to be here and be competitive,” said the 27-year-old Phillips, a third-time Olympian.

“Eight weeks ago I was having surgery on a collarbone that was smashed into five pieces.”

Phillips got through the course in a time of 35.095 seconds, 0.478 of a second behind pace setter Joris Daudet of France, pictured below.

Bridgwater Mercury:

Next up will be Thursday’s quarterfinals – this time with eight racers in each heat – and the semifinals and finals are Friday.

Phillips hopes to continue his upward trend. He finished 23rd in 2008 in Beijing. He finished eighth in 2012 in London. He has the seasoning to medal here – and his 2013 world championship is proof that he can prevail in this field.

And Wednesday provided some good intelligence for the next round.

“I mean the track is really, really fast and the minute you make one small mistake, that just knocks on to the rest of the lap,” he said.

“Just on the second straight I made a small mistake and lost a little bit of speed. That’s all it takes, it’s so close. For us, I mean, we haven’t put too much emphasis on going out and getting a real good (time) in, it was just more about going out, soaking up the atmosphere, having fun and yeah, trying to get ready for tomorrow. That’s when it counts.”

And at this point, Phillips said he’s healthy, thanks also to his girlfriend, British track cyclist Jess Varnish.

“She’s been an absolute diamond to absolutely get me in the best shape possible,” Phillips said of Varnish.

“I want to go out tomorrow and race for her, really.”

  • Joe Rexrode writes for The Tennessean.