Just one week after the Nove Mesto UCI MTB World Cup, the 2020 MTB World Championships took place in Leogang, Austria between October 5-11 where Canadian athletes competed against some of the world’s best in Cross-country (XCO), Downhill (DH), and E-MTB events throughout the week.
In the U23 Men’s XCO race on Friday, October 9th, BC rider Sean Fincham (Garibaldi Highlands, BC), finished with a personal best fifth-place at Worlds over a field of 70+ riders including fellow Canadian and BC rider, Carter Woods (Cumberland, BC) who placed 15th. All the Canadian U23 men finished within the top 25, including Gunnar Holmgren (20th), Quinton Disera (22nd), and Tyler Orschel (23rd).
The U23 Women, Elite Women, and Elite Men competed the following day with the following results,
U23 Women XCO
Marianne Theberge, 26th
Elite Men XCO
Leandre Bouchard, 26th
Elite Women XCO
Emily Batty, 27th
Jenn Jackson, 28th
Haley Smith, 29th
In the Men’s Elite Downhill final on the last day of the championships, Sunday, Oct 12th, it was BC’s Mark Wallace (Duncan, BC) who topped all Canadians and nearly podiumed with a fourth-place finish. Seth Sherlock (Squamish, BC) who was the lone Canadian in the Junior Men’s final finished in 22nd place. Other Canadians in the Elite Men’s DH final included,
Elliot Jamieson (White Rock, BC), 30th
Henry Fitzgerald (West Vancouver, BC), 31st
Finn Iles (Whistler, BC), 34th
Lucas Cruz (Pemberton, BC), 58th
For the full results from the 2020 UCI MTB World Championships, go to https://www.tissottiming.com/2020/mtbwch