LONDON 2012: BMX hopeful Phillips on the mend and feeling confident

Posted: Thursday 12th July 2012 | 18:27

LIAM Phillips insists he is fully recovered from his broken collarbone and ready to challenge for a cycling BMX medal at the London 2012 Olympics.

HOPEFUL: Liam Phillips is looking to improve on his quarter-final appearance in Beijing after overcoming a broken collarbone to secure his Team GB selection for London 2012

Phillips has endured a bit of a rollercoaster year. His bid to make the sprint team on the track failed and he suffered a nasty crash during the BMX World Championships in Birmingham, which looked to threaten his appearance at a second Games.

But the 23-year old, who made the quarter-finals in Beijing, is optimistic he can put himself in podium contention next month and fly under the radar, with all the home attention on women's BMX hope Shanaze Reade.

“You’ve got between six and eight athletes that are genuine medal contenders and if you can put yourself in that group then anyone of the six to eight are going to come out with those three medals," he told British Cycling.

"I know that the form I had at the World Championships is going to be good enough or thereabouts, it’s just looking to get back into that form come the Olympics.”

Phillips is currently putting in the hard yards at the National BMX Centre in Manchester and spent three days training at the Olympic Park earlier this year, where officials have made a number of track changes following criticism at last year's test event.

“It was open to all nations so we certainly haven’t experienced any form of home advantage and got to use any of the facilities outside of that allotted time,” he added.

“It has been open to all countries and we spent three days there. I love the track, I think it’s great.

"They have downscaled things a lot since the test event which I think is a good move in my opinion. The test event was too extreme, it was over and above what was expected, it was far too extreme whereas now there is a real race track.

“It’s not going to be follow the leader, there’s lots of room for passing and it should make for great viewing.”