USA Cycling announced Friday the 51 athletes nominated to represent the United States at the 2011 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Champery, Switzerland, from Aug. 29-Sept. 4. (XC riders listed here.)
The athletes who earned automatic nominations were selected by using USA Cycling’s Athlete Nomination criteria.
Leading the 10 elite American downhill riders will be the top-ranked rider in the World Cup rankings, Aaron Gwin (Temecula, Calif./Trek), who earned an automatic nomination. Gwin also won four of the five World Cup downhill races, thus far. Also receiving an automatic nomination is the leader of the 2011 USA Cycling Pro Mountain Bike Gravity Tour (Pro GRT), Cody Warren (Alpine, Calif./DRD X-Fusion Intense). The women’s downhill contingent will be led by automatic nominees Jacqueline Harmony (Sedona, Ariz./All Mountain Cyclery-Vixen Racing) and Jill Kintner (Seattle, Wash./RedBull-Transition Racing). Kintner currently leads the women’s Pro GRT standings and is ranked 13th in the UCI Elite Women Downhill World Cup rankings. Harmony earned her automatic nomination by virtue of being ranked 11th in the UCI rankings. Competing as discretionary selections in the men’s elite race will be Logan Binggeli (Saint George, Utah/KHS Bicycles), Curtis Keene (Fremont, Calif.), Duncan Riffle (Santa Barbara, Calif./Giant MTB Team), Mitch Ropelato (Ogden, Utah/SPS North America) and Luke Strobel (Issaquah, Wash./MS Evil). Joanna Petterson (Jericho, Vt.) will join Harmony and Kintner as a discretionary selection in the women’s race.
Of the nine American contestants, four junior riders, three men and one woman, earned automatic nominations to compete in the junior men’s and women’s downhill contests in Champery. Neko Mulally (Reading, Pa./Trek), Austin Warren (Alpine, Calif./DRD X-Fusion Intense) and Trevor Trinkino (Evergreen, Colo./Yeti RPM) will contest the men’s race while Lauren Daney (Stafford, Va./Specialized-GROM Racing) will compete in the women’s junior downhill competition. Mulally earned an automatic nomination after placing second in the 2010 World Championships and by strong showings at three different World Cup events earlier this season. Trinkino posted the fastest time among a qualified pool of athletes at the Winter Park Crankworx to earn his automatic nomination. Warren earned his automatic nomination by placing 23rd in the World Cup event in Windham, N.Y. Daney earned her automatic nomination by placing 20th in the women’s elite downhill at the World Cup event in Windham, N.Y. Nate Furbee (Los Osos, Calif.), Austin Hackett Klaube (Dillon, Colo.), Kiran MacKinnon (Aromas, Calif.), Austin Warren (Alpine, Calif./DRD X-Fusion Intense) and Christian Wright (Auburn,CA Ex Drinks/ Commencal) will compete in the junior men’s race as discretionary selections.
The U.S. contingent will feature three male discretionary selections contesting the four-cross race. Blake Carney (Camarillo, Calif.), Lear Miller (Sedona, Ariz./Team Geronimo-Banshee) and Erik Nelson (Gilbert, Ariz.) were chosen to compete in the four-cross competition.
In addition to the downhill competitions, the World Championships will also feature elite four-cross competitions for gravity racers. The U.S. squad will be led by automatic nominee Melissa Buhl (Chandler, Ariz./KHS Bicycles) who earned an automatic nomination by being placing second at each of the World Cup events in Leogang, Austria and Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec, Canada, in addition being ranked sixth in the UCI World Cup MNT Cross rankings. Joanna Petterson (Jericho, Vt.) and Neven Steinmetz (Boulder, Colo./Ellsworth-Smile Generation) will join Buhl as discretionary selections.
The U.S. team will also feature one trials rider, Ryder Okumura (Durango, Colo./Durango Devo), who competed in the 2003 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships as a junior, placing 27th in the Elite 20 Trials competition.
The complete U.S. Gravity/Trials Team roster is listed below.
Elite Men Downhill
Logan Binggeli (Saint George, Utah/KHS Bicycles)
Aaron Gwin (Temecula, Calif./Trek)
Curtis Keene (Fremont, Calif.)
Duncan Riffle (Santa Barbara, Calif./Giant MTB Team)
Mitch Ropelato (Ogden, Utah/SPS North America)
Luke Strobel (Issaquah, Wash./MS Evil)
Cody Warren (Alpine, Calif./DRD X-Fusion Intense)
Elite Women Downhill
Jacqueline Harmony (Sedona, Ariz./All Mountain Cyclery-Vixen Racing)
Jill Kintner (Seattle, Wash./RedBull-Transition Racing)
Joanna Petterson (Jericho, Vt.)
Junior Men Downhill
Nate Furbee (Los Osos, Calif.)
Austin Hackett Klaube (Dillon, Colo.)
Kiran MacKinnon (Aromas, Calif.)
Neko Mulally (Reading, Pa./Trek)
Trevor Trinkino (Evergreen, Colo./Yeti RPM)
Austin Warren (Alpine, Calif./DRD X-Fusion Intense)
Christian Wright (Auburn,CA Ex Drinks/ Commencal)
Junior Women Downhill
Lauren Daney (Stafford, Va./Specialized-GROM Racing)
Men Four Cross
Blake Carney (Camarillo, Calif.)
Lear Miller (Sedona, Ariz./Team Geronimo-Banshee)
Erik Nelson (Gilbert, Ariz.)
Women Four Cross
Melissa Buhl (Chandler, Ariz./KHS Bicycles)
Joanna Petterson (Jericho, Vt.)
Neven Steinmetz (Boulder, Colo./Ellsworth-Smile Generation)
Trial Rider
Ryder Okumura (Durango, Colo./Durango Devo)
8/5/2011 8:35pm
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