BMX racer Molly Simpson’s next steps after Paris Olympics [Video]

BMX racer Molly Simpson is still riding the high of a fifth-place finish at the Paris Olympics. But the 22-year-old from Red Deer, Alta., has plenty more to do.

And as evidenced by a pair of recent first-place finishes at the USA BMX Grands in Tulsa, Okla., Simpson is still on the move.

Simpson’s excitement at being in the Aug. 2 Olympic final was plain to see. Shaking a leg to stay loose, Simpson’s helmet-encased head bopped up and down to the music at raucous Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines BMX Stadium, still rocking from a 1-2-3 French finish in the men’s final, as she waited for the start.

“The building was just so loud that they couldn’t quiet down the fans,” recalled Simpson, who celebrated her birthday Wednesday. “So we were kind of just sitting up there waiting … Your heart’s pumping. I honestly was just trying to soak up as much of …