Logan Martin FAILS in his bid for Olympic gold in BMX heartbreak while Penny Smith takes bronze in trap shooting

Logan Martin has been dethroned as the king of Olympic BMX freestyle, the Australian great crashing out on both his runs in the final.

But Australia found a new star in the event as Natalya Diehm produced the performance of her life while her rivals stuttered to land a shock bronze medal in the women’s competition at La Concorde on Wednesday.

Martin, the 30-year-old maestro who triumphed in the inaugural event in Tokyo three years ago, tried to push the envelope, knowing how much his rivals have improved in the last three years.

But though he produced a brilliant first run, the front wheel of his BMX clipped the edge of a jump on a trick just before the end as he crashed disconsolately to the track.

On the second run, as he sought to overhaul the brilliant Argentine leader Jose Torres Gil, Martin landed heavily after a double flare, lost momentum and rode out, his dream of double gold over.

His first-round score of 64.40 left him in ninth and last place in the final as Torres Gil  took the gold with a routine that scored 94.82, ahead of Britain’s Kieran Reilly (93.91) and local hero Anthony Jeanjean (93.76). 

Elsewhere, Penny Smith won Australia’s first shooting medal at the Paris Olympics, claiming bronze in the trap.

The Australian legend failed on both of his runs in the final on Wednesday

Elsewhere, Penny Smith (right) won bronze in the women’s trap shooting final

The 29-year-old left-hander from Bookaar in Victoria’s Western District was steady in the final, at Chateauroux south of France.

But two misses in her last elimination round left Smith one off the pace, with Adriana Ruano Oliva of Guatemala winning her country’s first Olympic gold medal ahead of Italian Maria Stanco.

It is also the world No.11’s first Olympic medal, after Smith was sixth in the trap and mixed trap team at the Tokyo Games.

Earlier on Wednesday, Smith prevailed in a three-way shoot off to make the final.