Graves caps perfect season with world championship win

Australia's Jared Graves capped his perfect season by winning the men's four cross title at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships on Friday evening in Canberra, Australia.

Graves was the clear favourite going into the men's event, having already won the World Cup title with one race remaining, and qualifying first at these Worlds. He did not disappoint the fans, with a very fast start in every heat and he was often able to coast across the line, multiple bike lengths ahead of the competition.

Romain Saladini (France), Jakub Riha (Czech Republic) and defending champion Rafael Alvarez de Lara Lucas (Spain) joined Graves for the final. While Graves shot out of the gate and was never challenged on his way to victory, Saladini and Riha fought for second until the second half of the course, when Saladini finally opened a gap to take the silver medal. Alvarez de Lara Lucas finished fourth after crashing out of contention on the first straight.

"I felt a bit calmer today than I normally would at a World Cup," said Graves "I was saying to people earlier in the week that I have lost this race enough now, even as favourite, to know that life goes on if you don't win it. So I was trying to remember that."

"Obviously, I wanted to win it. It has been the biggest goal I have had in mountain biking, to pull it off after the bad run of luck I have had for three years in a row. I had a really good last practice session, so I knew if I kept it upright and just did my thing all night that I was going to get it. I did that, so I can't explain how I feel. It is just unbelievable."

"I was trying to not pay any attention to the other races tonight. I had people out on the course to tell me if there was anything going on that I should be aware of. But no one said anything, so I just kept to my strategy. It was a huge help this week practicing with Sam Willoughby. It was unreal having him here to practice with. We just did multiple lines and went over every line conceivable option for passing, and I feel it just paid off tonight."

Results

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Big Final
#Rider Name (Country) Team
1Jared Graves (Australia)
2Romain Saladini (France)
3Jakub Riha (Czech Republic)
4Rafael Alvarez De Lara Lucas (Spain)
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Small Final
#Rider Name (Country) Team
5Tomas Slavik (Czech Republic)
6Joost Wichman (Netherlands)
7David Graf (Switzerland)
8Blake Carney (United States Of America)
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1/4 Finals
#Rider Name (Country) Team
9Sam Willoughby (Australia)
10Dan Atherton (Great Britain)
11Leigh Darrell (Australia)
12Guido Tschugg (Germany)
13Ryan Henderson (Australia)
14Johannes Fischbach (Germany)
15Luke Madill (Australia)
16Aurélien Giordanengo (France)
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1/8 Finals
#Rider Name (Country) Team
17Scott Beaumont (Great Britain)
18Matthew Walker (New Zealand)
19Matej Vitko (Slovakia)
20Randal Huntington (Australia)
21Daniel Ricardo Castillo (Colombia)
22Kazuki Shimizu (Japan)
23Kye Walstrom (Canada)
24Michal Prokop (Czech Republic)
25Pascal Seydoux (Switzerland)
26Mitch Ropelato (United States Of America)
27Jurg Meijer (Netherlands)
28Edward Masters (New Zealand)
29Michael Robert Haderer (United States Of America)
30Junya Nagata (Japan)
31Camilo Andres Sanchez Paez (Colombia)
32Filip Polc (Slovakia)

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