Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec (September 3, 2010) – The 2010 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships continued on Friday with the junior men’s cross country race, U23 men’s cross country race, and the elite men’s and women’s four-cross competitions.

After doing battle with 76 of the best junior riders in the world over a total distance of 26 kilometers, Seth Kemp (Campobella, SC) rode to an impressive 18th-place in the junior men’s cross country event.

“It started off really fast and I looked up ahead of me on one of the climbs and everyone was already like 40 seconds out in front of me,” Kemp said about his start.

Realizing that he shouldn’t start out as hard as he could, the South Carolina rider strategically slowed his pace in the beginning.

“I was going pretty hard, so I slowed down a little bit and just started picking people off one by one. It worked out pretty good,” he said.

Kemp was followed over the finish line by his U.S. teammates Skyler Trujillo (Fort Collins, Colo.) in 30th, Tony Smith (San Rafael, Calif./Whole Athlete)in 49th, and Will Curtis (San Rafael, Calif./Whole Athlete) in 58th. Dutch rider Michiel Van Der Heijden rode by himself for the entire race to earn the world title while Frenchman Julien Trarieux rode to the silver medal and German Julian Schleb grabbed the bronze.

Following the junior event, 68 young men toed the line for a 30.6-kilometer U23 men’s cross country race. The top finisher for the U.S. contingent was Robbie Squire (Sandy, Utah/Garmin-Felt-Holowesko) in 31st-place.

“I was feeling good warming up. All the right signs were there, but as soon as the gun went off, things came apart,” Robbie said about his race at the finish line. “It was not the way you want to race at the world championships. The course was really great. It’s probably one of my favorite courses I get to race all year. I’ve been looking forward to it but I just couldn’t put it together today.”

Following Squire over the line were fellow U.S. riders Stephen Ettinger (Cashmere, Wash./Arlberg Sports) in 34th, Mitch Hoke (Colorado Springs, Colo./Tokyo Joe’s) in 40th, Jack Hinkens (Edenprairie, Minn./Trek-Co-op) in 45th, and Russell Finsterwald (Colorado Springs, Colo./Subaru-Trek)in 52nd. The podium was swept by three Swiss men - Mathias Fluckiger, Thomas Litscher, and Patrik Litscher.

Day three of Mountain Bike Worlds wrapped up with the elite men’s and women’s four-cross competitions in which five Americans were among the contestants.

Proving quite strong on the four-cross course Friday evening was Barry Nobles (Wetumpka, Ala.). After breezing through the early rounds and dominating the quarter finals, the Alabama rider found himself in the semi’s but unfortunately tangled up about halfway down the course and fell out of contention for the finals. In the race for fifth through eighth places, Nobles placed seventh.

In the finals, Tomas Slavik (CZE) claimed the world title ahead of silver and bronze medalists Jared Graves (AUS) and Michal Prokop (CZE) while Roger Rinderknecht (SUI) was fourth.

Joining Nobles on the four-cross course was fellow American Blake Carney (Camarillo, Calif.) who fell from contention in the quarter finals, as well as Ross Milan (Arvada, Colo./Yeti) and Erik Nelson (Gilbert, Ariz.) who were both eliminated in the 1/8 finals.

In the women’s event, Neven Steinmetz (Boulder, Colo./Ellsworth Bikes) was eliminated in the quarter finals while Aussie Caroline Buchanan was crowned world champion. A pair of Czech riders, Jana Horakova and Romana Labounkova collected the silver and bronze medals.

On tap in Mont-Sainte-Anne for Saturday are the elite men’s and women’s cross country races. Stay tuned to www.usacycling.org for full reports on all Americans in action.


2010 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships
Sept. 1-5, 2010
Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec

Junior Men’s Cross Country
1. Michiel Van Der Heijden (NED)
2. Julien Trarieux (FRA)
3. Julian Schleb (GER)
18. Seth Kemp (Campobella, S.C.)
30. Skyler Trujillo (Fort Collins, Colo.)
49. Tony Smith (San Rafael, Calif./Whole Athlete)
58. Will Curtis (San Rafael, Calif./Whole Athlete)

U23 Men’s Cross Country
1. Mathias Fluckiger (SUI)
2. Thomas Litscher (SUI)
3. Patrik Litscher (SUI)
31. Robbie Squire (Sandy, Utah/Garmin-Felt-Holowesko)
34. Stephen Ettinger (Cashmere, Wash./Arlberg Sports)
40. Mitch Hoke (Colorado Springs, Colo./Tokyo Joe’s)
45. Jack Hinkens (Edenprairie, Minn./Trek-Co-op)
52. Russell Finsterwald (Colorado Springs, Colo./Subaru-Trek)

Elite Women’s Four-Cross
1. Caroline Buchanan (AUS)
2. Jana Horakova (CZE)
3. Romana Labounkova (CZE)
Neven Steinmetz (Boulder, Colo./Ellsworth Bikes) - eliminated in quarter finals

Elite Men’s Four-Cross
1. Tomas Slavik (CZE)
2. Jared Graves (AUS)
3. Michal Prokop (CZE)
7. Barry Nobles (Wetumpka, Ala.)
Blake Carney (Camarillo, Calif.) - eliminated in quarter finals
Erik Nelson (Gilbert, Ariz.) - eliminated in 1/8 finals
Ross Milan (Arvada, Colo./Yeti) - eliminated in 1/8 finals