2006 World Championships so far

The 2006 MTB World Championships are well under way in Rotorua, New Zealand. With seven races in the books, it appears Switzerland came the most prepared to succeed. With wins in the Team Relay, Women's Trials and a sweep of the podium in the Junior Men's race, the Swiss have grabbed the greatest share of medals so far.

But not every new champion is Swiss. The People's Republic of China went one-two in the women's U23 competition (Ren Chengyuan and Ying Liu) proving that they are taking success at the 2008 Beijing Olympics seriously and Slovenian Tanja Zakelj scored that country's first-ever World Championship in mountain biking.

And there was not a Swiss rider in sight in the Four Cross competition. American Jill Kintner was there and successfully defended her World Champion status and Michael Prokop, the 2004 champion, got in front of a tumble that took down 2005 World Champion Brian Lope (USA) to grab back the jersey for himself.

Elite Downhill and Cross-Country titles will be settled through the weekend. Stay tuned to Cyclingnews for complete results, race reports and photography from New Zealand.

Results to date:

• Four-cross
• U23 men XC
• Women trials
• Downhill seeding runs
• Junior men XC
• U23 women XC
• Junior women XC
• Team Relay